That was the perception of the employee. Clearly the whole thing is way out of normal, but what do you expect from the manager when they are informed that one of their employees are taken hostage? Become a trained hostage negotiator and one-man-army?

Later the article says:

> But the report says that one of the company's partners "made arrangements" with IS to secure his release and let the company continue its work in Mosul.

So no, the person wasn't abandoned.

There is a lot of questions about the manager's conduct before the kidnapping. How the heck did things end up there? But first thing I would expect from the manager after the kidnapping is to find a professional to handle the situation. And the professional very well might advice the manager to cut communications.