OPP appeal for tips as week-long search continues for missing Fanshawe College student

Ontario Provincial Police continued their search on Wednesday for a missing Fanshawe College student, last seen in a remote area east of Port Stanley, Ont., a week ago.

Search teams have been combing an area of Central Elgin for the woman, 20-year-old Nidhua Muktadir, who was reported missing by London police on Dec. 4.

She was last seen a day earlier near Hawk Cliff Road and Dexter Line in Union, near the Lake Erie shoreline, police say.

London police said last week that Muktadir had ordered a ride-sharing service, but they didn't say where she was dropped off, or if her final destination was the area being searched. It's not clear who last saw Muktadir before her disappearance.

A still image from a surveillance camera showed her with a small suitcase as she left her home near Fanshawe College Boulevard and Fleming Drive, police said.

Ontario Provincial Police have led the search for the 20-year-old. It has involved the agency's emergency response team, aviation, canine, and marine units, said Const. Brett Phair of the Elgin County detachment.

"Our marine unit was doing a search of the surrounding area in Lake Erie," Phair said.

"Hawk Cliff [Road] terminates at a cliff edge to Lake Erie, so we had units in the water searching to get a different vantage point and exhaust our search efforts in that area."

In a statement on Dec. 5, London police said the 20-year-old was seen wearing a purple-hooded sweater, black jacket, pink and white scarf, white running shoes, and was carrying a white backpack.

In a statement Friday, provincial police described her as being four foot eight inches, 110 pounds, with a thin build, and shoulder-lengthy curly brown hair, and that she was seen wearing black pants and a white or grey long-sleeved shirt.

"Lake Erie's edge, especially in that area, is very difficult to traverse in some areas," Phair said. "With it being heavily wooded around that surrounding area too, it offers some challenges."

He couldn't confirm whether her disappearance was being treated as suspicious, but said "nothing's been ruled out, one way or the other. It's just a matter of we're following up any leads."

Police and Muktadir's family are concerned for her safety, and anyone with any information about the case is asked to contact OPP or Crime Stoppers.

"Any piece of information, even if it feels small, could impact the investigation, and hopefully we can find Nidhua."