There was a collective sigh of relief waking up Tuesday morning upon learning that NBC's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and his broadcast crew had made it to Turkey safely after being captured by a group who Engel says were loyal Syrian regime. What we didn't know was that there was still one more missing member of Engel's team who was left unaccounted for until today. Engel, along with photographer John Kooistra and and producer Ghazi Balkiz, told us on the Today show about the harrowing story of their kidnapping, psychological torture, and how they escaped after their captors were killed in a gunfight. They didn't tell us about missing technical support staffer Ian Rivers. We didn't know about him until NBC released a statement Wednesday morning — they had implemented a media blackout during Engel's disappearance:

Ian Rivers, NBC News technical support staff, has left Syria.

He got separated from the rest of Richard Engel's production team in the midst of the firefight which resulted in the NBC team's escape from captivity. Until now, Rivers' whereabouts in Syria have been unknown.

Rivers is said to be in good condition and will be evaluated in Turkey.

NBC, as The New York Times confirmed, had never specified the number of crew members who were with Engel when he was abducted. 

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Alexander Abad-Santos