Award-winning NBC News foreign correspondent Richard Engel missing in Syria

[txradioguy]

NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel, one of the most prominent and accomplished international correspondents in the world, is reportedly missing in Syria.
 
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports that Engel, together with Turkish journalist Aziz AkyavaÅŸ, were last known to be in Syria and haven't been in contact with NBC News since Thursday morning.
 
While the Turkish media have been circulating the report for several days, American outlets had been operating under a news blackout requested by NBC until today.

NBC colleague David Schuster is amongst those to have tweeted their concern about the missing journalist and author.
 
Engels, who is divorced and doesn't have children, was promoted to NBC News's chief foreign correspondent in 2008. He runs NBC’s Middle East bureau and has been reporting on the ongoing conflict between rebels and forces backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He last reported from inside Syria on December 11. He is also known as a regular Twitter user, but hasn’t tweeted since Dec 1.

Engel is widely regarded for his coverage of wars, revolutions and political transitions around the world over the last 15 years.

Most recently, he was recognized for his outstanding reporting on the 2011 revolution in Egypt, the conflict in Libya and unrest throughout the Arab world.

Engel, one of the only western journalists to cover the entire war in Iraq, joined NBC News in May 2003. He previously worked as a freelance journalist for ABC News, most notably during the initial U.S. invasion of Iraq.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249562/Award-winning-NBC-News-foreign-correspondent-Richard-Engel-missing-Syria-Thursday.html#ixzz2FO5hWAGX

[debk]

I've always thought he did a good job of reporting in very tense areas.

Prayers up that he will be found safe and healthy.

[DUKOTA]

Reported 35 minutes ago that he has been released.

[Eupher]

Could have been very, very ugly for Engel and his crew:

Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, and three of his crew members were freed on Monday after five days in captivity in Syria, the news organization said on Tuesday.

NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel, right, crossed back into Turkey Tuesday after he and his crew were freed unharmed following five days of captivity inside Syria.

The journalists were unharmed. The news organization released a short statement that said, “We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country.”

The identities of the kidnappers and their motives were unknown. But an article on the NBC News Web site quotes Mr. Engel as saying their captors “were talking openly about their loyalty to the government” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Their kidnapping once again highlights the perils of reporting from Syria, which is said by the Committee to Protect Journalists to be “the world’s most dangerous place for the press.”

NBC declined to specify the number of crew members that were with Mr. Engel. Two of the crew members, John Kooistra and Ghazi Balkiz, appeared with Mr. Engel on NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday morning. A third, Aziz Akyavas, spoke at a news conference in Turkey. Mr. Akyavas said in an interview on the Turkish television channel NTV that a technician who traveled with the crew was still missing. NBC did not respond to a request for comment about that report.

Mr. Engel and the crew members covertly entered Syria several times this year to report on the insurgency that is fighting Mr. Assad there. Mr. Engel was last seen on television last Thursday in a taped report from Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital, where he reported that “the Syrian regime appears to be cracking, but the rebels remain outgunned.”

In order to transmit their report in safety, Mr. Engel and his crew apparently crossed the border into Turkey. Their effort to cross back into the country on Thursday led to their capture.

The rest is at the link.

NY Slimes