@RichardEngel is a modern day Ernie Pyle and I hope he is ok. — SLD (@DITUPAC3361) December 17, 2012

Twitter lit up late tonight with buzz that veteran war correspondent Richard Engel of NBC News and his producer have gone missing in Syria. Details are sketchy and foreign reports are notoriously unreliable:

Bad news. Hope he's safe. @DGisSERIOUS: Reports from Turkish media coming in that NBC's Richard Engel is missing in Syria. — Josh Locklair (@joshlocklair) December 17, 2012

Here's the Hurriyet piece on Richard Engel's disappearance: http://t.co/WICkxPEy Too bad Turkish seems to be impervious to Google Translate. — Matt Ford (@fordm) December 17, 2012

https://twitter.com/MazharYasin/status/280355131713789952

https://twitter.com/katz/status/280579005529329664

NBC Türkiye Temsilcisi Aziz Akyavaş ve Ortadoğu muhabiri Richard Engel, Suriye’de perşembe gününden bu yana kayıp.http://t.co/4nTJwwUo — elif yilmaz (@_ElifYilmaz_) December 16, 2012

Here are Engel’s last tweets, with the most recent dated Dec. 6:

#egypt protesters saying president obama 'supporting terrorists" by backing muslim brotherhood, staying silent on power grab — Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) December 5, 2012

#egypt muslim brotherhood supporters fighting hard, appear to be surrounded. Not sure how this will end. — Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) December 5, 2012

Reuters: The #Egyptian pound fell to its lowest level in eight years against the U.S. dollar Thursday — Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) December 6, 2012

On Dec. 13, NBC Nightly News tweeted a video of Engel inside war-torn Aleppo, Syria:

Many have Engel in their thoughts and prayers around the world. Let’s hope he’s found safe and sound:

Keep @RichardEngel in your thoughts, folks, and hope that he's safe. — Scott Crawford (@scottcrawford) December 17, 2012

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Update: Twitter journos and writers are reporting that NBC can’t reach Engel this morning.

NBC is unable to reach its Middle East bureau chief @RichardEngel, who was reporting from inside Syria. — Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) December 17, 2012

https://twitter.com/Wheezyruth123/status/280707817835462656

https://twitter.com/DinoKiefer/status/280709189825863682

***

Update: Jeremy Scahill, who writes for the Nation, appears to be talking about Engel here:

When the family/employer of a missing journalist asks media to do a blackout, that should be respected. — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 17, 2012

There are processes going on that other media are not privy to and you should respect that. It could mean life/death for the missing journo — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 17, 2012

The desire to get a "scoop" should be put in check when there are very good reasons–namely the lives of our colleagues– to stay quiet — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 17, 2012

There are cases where the families/employers ask for coverage. There are actual strategies at play and that should be respected. — jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) December 17, 2012

There are reports that NBC News has asked media not to report on the story. With thousands of people tweeting about this (“Richard Engel” is a Twitter trending topic in the United States), it’s going to be impossible to put this genie back in the bottle.

Update: Richard Engel and his crew have been freed after five days of captivity, according to NBC News.