14 DAY TRIAL // NBC journalist Richard Engel and his team have been freed after 5 days of captivity in Syria, when they were kidnapped in an area they believed to be safe. Below is Engel and his team talking about their traumatic experience.
They are now in Turkey, safe and relatively unharmed, though definitely traumatized.
Speaking for The Today Show, the journalists recalled their traumatic experience but insisted they were never physically beaten. However, “there was a lot of psychological torture,” Engel says.
“After being kidnapped and held for five days inside Syria by an unknown group, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his production crew members have been freed unharmed. We are pleased to report they are safely out of the country,” NBC says in a statement.
Engel does offer some hints as to the group that held them captives, but also says that they were blindfolded most of the time, so they can’t be sure.