After being held captive for five days in Syria, NBC's Richard Engel and his team recount being ambushed and blindfolded before being freed at a checkpoint. By Rachel Elbaum, NBC NewsHours after crossing the border into Turkey, NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel and his crew told the story of their harrowing five-day kidnapping ordeal inside war-torn Syria.
“We were with some of the [anti-government] rebels and as we were moving down the road a group of gunmen literally jumped out of the trees and bushes on the side of the road,” Engel said Tuesday during a live interview with TODAY from Antakya, Turkey. “There were about 15 gunmen wearing ski masks, they were heavily armed. They had a container truck positioned, waiting by the side of the road. They put us into that container truck. We were with some gunmen - some rebels that were escorting us - they executed one of them on the spot.”
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