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Two doctoral students at the University of South Florida are missing, the school\u2019s police department said in a statement Tuesday.
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Zamil Limon and Nahida S. Bristy, both 27 and from Bangladesh, were last seen on Thursday, the USFPD said.
Limon, a doctoral student who is pursuing a degree in geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen at 9 a.m. Thursday, April 16, in his Tampa residence, police said. There has been no contact with him since, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office processed a missing person report for him.
Bristy was also last seen on Thursday, but at 10 a.m. in the Natural and Environmental Sciences Building on the USF Tampa campus, according to police. She is studying chemical engineering. The USFPD processed her missing person report.
Limon\u2019s residence is less than a 10-minute drive from the NES Building where Bristy was last seen.
On Friday, just before 5 p.m., a family friend reported that they were unable to contact both Limon and Bristy. That call triggered the missing person reports and prompted police to enter both Limon and Bristy into missing person databases.
Officials have said the two are friends and may be together.
Family members also told NBC News it\u2019s out of character for Limon and Bristy, who both have family in Bangladesh, to go off the grid and not keep regular contact with their loved ones.
Limon\u2019s younger brother, Zubaer Ahmed, 25, told NBC News Wednesday that Limon and Bristy were \u201cclose friends\u201d and appeared to be romantically linked.
Limon and Bristy were \u201cthinking about having [a] future together,\u201d but both were dedicated to their studies, said Ahmed, speaking from Bangladesh.
Asked if the two were thinking of getting married, he said, \u201cAs far as I know or as far I have learned, they are thinking about or talking about it,\u201d but he noted they weren\u2019t thinking about it to the point where they\u2019d \u201ctake some serious steps, kind of like disappearance or something like that.\u201d
Ahmed described both as \u201cvery serious\u201d people who would not \u201cdisappear without telling anyone.\u201d
Zahaid Hasan Pranto, Bristy\u2019s older brother, 29, told NBC News the pair had a romantic relationship in the past but weren\u2019t actively dating.
\u201cFrom my sister\u2019s friends, I came to know like she was still emotionally engaged,\u201d he said, speaking from Bangladesh.
Both had plans to travel to Bangladesh for a visit, and Limon had booked his round-trip ticket, Ahmed added.
The day of the disappearance, Bristy had left her belongings including her laptop, iPad and lunch box behind in a university lab, Pranto said.
\u201cOnly the purse and phone was missing from there,\u201d he said.
Limon had left his apartment with his phone and wallet. Police found his passport in the apartment, Ahmed said.
Ahmed said his family last spoke to Limon last Monday, Bangladeshi time, and his brother was \u201cvery busy\u201d with thesis submission deadlines.
\u201cSo we didn\u2019t call him for two days, and after two days, we [were] informed that he is missing,\u201d Ahmed said.
\u201cIt\u2019s been five days, and we are in great pain,\u201d he added.
He said police told his family that Limon\u2019s phone was last traced around 11 a.m. Thursday to his apartment, and Bristy around 5 p.m. that day to the USF campus area.
\u201cConcerning is that police haven\u2019t just found anything suspicious in CCTV footage, or they didn\u2019t provide, didn\u2019t share anything,\u201d he said.
Bristy\u2019s family last spoke with her around noon Tampa time on Thursday, the day that she went missing, Pranto said.
Pranto said Bristy talks on the phone with her parents twice a day, and that last conversation was \u201cnormal\u201d and she mentioned having plans to go grocery shopping with a friend. She did not mention Limon.
\u201cWe could not contact her on Friday. So at that point, we [were] already concerned,\u201d he said.
Pranto said police also found Bristy\u2019s passport.
Both brothers stressed their siblings would never go offline or willingly disappear.
Asked if it is out of character for Limon to go offline temporarily, Ahmed said, \u201cIn my wildest dream, I don\u2019t think he will do that.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s like a completely impossible thing, doing something like that for him,\u201d he said.
Pranto said the situation was concerning and the family is devastated by Bristy\u2019s disappearance.
\u201cShe would never do that, never do something like this, never put our family through this pain and everything,\u201d he said.
He issued a public plea to his sister: \u201cJust be safe and contact us. Everyone is just worried, and we just want you to come back safe and sound.\u201d
The Bangladeshi Embassy told Ahmed\u2019s family it requested that the FBI get involved in the missing person case, he said. The embassy also told both families that ICE confirmed that neither Limon nor Bristy are in its custody, the brothers said.
Police are asking anyone who has seen Limon or Bristy, or has information regarding their whereabouts, to contact USFPD at (813) 974-2628.
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Jesse Kirsch is a correspondent based in Miami reporting across all NBC News platforms.
Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
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