Missing journalist Austin Tice ‘alive’ in Syria: US NGO

US group Hostage Aid Worldwide says it has information that Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, is still alive, but didn’t offer concrete information on his whereabouts.

Photojournalist and former Marine Austin Tice was kidnapped in Syria in 2012

US group Hostage Aid Worldwide says it believes journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, is still alive, but didn’t offer concrete information on his whereabouts.

“We have data that Austin is alive till January 2024, but the president of the US said in August that he is alive, and we are sure that he is alive today,” Hostage Aid Worldwide’s Nizar Zakka said.

Hostage Aid Worldwide's member Nizar Zakka speaks to reporters. Picture: AFP.

Tice, 43, was abducted in Syria in 2012 while reporting on the civil war there as a freelancer. The US said at the time that it believed he was being held by the Syrian government. His mother reportedly sent a letter to Vladimir Putin last week asking for his help in locating her son. Mr Putin said that he could ask Syria’s leaders, as well as ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

During a marathon press conference, Mr Putin claimed that he had not yet met Assad, who fled to Russia earlier this month after being toppled by Syrian opposition forces, but would ask him about Mr Tice when he did.