Twitter drive over missing student

Confusion reigns over a missing Emirati student's whereabouts as the UAE's Twitter community continues to pull together to help locate the 22-year-old, who has been confirmed missing by his family. Y.O. has been missing for more than a week and was last seen at the family home in Dubai on February 19. Family, friends and acquaintances took to the social media website to appeal for any information about the youth, posting pictures of him and his blue Toyota FJ Cruiser. Y.O.'s elder brother Jamail, who uses the Twitter handle @JMusabih, confirmed the family has filed a missing-person report with the Dubai Police. Jamal confirmed Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has tracked the tag in his brother's car, travelling in the direction of Abu Dhabi sometime last Sunday. However, no further information has been obtained as Y.O. left his mobile phone at home. A Dubai Police source confirmed Y.O.'s family has filed a missing-person report. Y.O. is a human resource management student at the American University of the Emirates (AUE) and was described by one of his tutors as a loner. "He doesn't have any friends and I've never seen him with anyone, he's always spotted alone in the university," said Dr Benish Chaudhry, who is a human resources professor at AUE. "I told his family this when they contacted me worried about his whereabouts." Dr Chaudhry last saw Y.O. on the campus after he was reported missing by his family, during a university department tour. The tour was part of the principles of management class attended by a total of 35 students. Not disruptive "I saw him last on Tuesday February 21 during a university department tour I had taken my class on as part of the course," she said. "He didn't attend the event exactly but he tried to show me his face." She added he is not a disruptive student but has not been consistently attending her class. She said he missed a couple of weeks since the start of the term at the end of January. "The university's policy is to dismiss a student if they don't attend for a certain period of time without valid reason such as a parent or doctor's note," she said. "He told me he would bring a letter but he still hasn't." "I've just recently heard about our missing student," said Professor Nabeel Jurdi, the vice-chancellor of academic affairs at AUE. "But I overheard some students saying they saw him in Fujairah on Wednesday February 22." Y.O.'s sister confirmed the family is working to obtain CCTV footage from AUE to try and pinpoint when her brother was last on campus. "Obtaining CCTV footage is a police issue so they might have to go through the police," said Dr Muthanna Abdul Razzaq, the president of AUE. Y.O.'s siblings told Gulf News their brother was a quiet and shy individual who had no recent personal problems. "There were no issues and no fights at home," said his sister.