Victoria Silman | Assistant News Editor
Featured Image: Zabia Afzal, a PhD candidate at York, has been missing since the morning of May 10. | Fatema Ali
As the search enters its seventh day, an urgent effort to find missing York PhD candidate Zabia Afzal is underway.
According to York Regional Police, the 30-year-old CUPE 3903 member was last seen in Ashbridges Bay after taking an Uber from Vaughan to Woodbine Beach on the morning of May 10.
She was last seen at approximately 9:40 a.m. in the area of Highway 400 and Major Mackenzie Drive.
A Facebook group called “Find Zabia” and the Twitter page @findzabia have organized searches throughout the city since Thursday. According to reports, her cellphone and other belongings were found shortly after her disappearance at Ashbridges Bay.
Zubair Afzal, Zabia’s brother, says these search parties are being organized on a day-to-day basis. “We are taking it one day at a time right now. I know today there are about 300 volunteers that are going to be involved in this, but tomorrow I’m not too sure. We will know a little more later on,” he explains.
According to reports, search parties are now focusing on areas she has spent significant time in, including the Scarborough Bluffs and Thorncliffe Park.
Zabia’s disappearance has come as a shock to her family. Her brother describes her as “a very smart and brilliant girl.
“She is a student at York University and she is an advocate of rights.”
Zubair expresses how her family is trying to understand the situation. “To be very honest, at this moment we’re not able to figure out anything. It’s something that has caught everyone off guard,” he says.
“The more we’re thinking about it, the more we are sort of brainstorming within the family, in terms of clues she may have left for us, maybe there is something that we are missing. But there is absolutely nothing coming out at this moment.”
To get involved in helping to find Zabia, Zubair emphasizes the impact of social media.
“We have the ‘Find Zabia’ page on Facebook and Twitter. We obviously have a lot of community support at the moment. What the community can do is spread awareness within the network of people they know. Share whatever is going on on social media—everyone is on social media,” he suggests.
Though search parties will be canvassing areas where Zabia is known to frequent, her family requests additional help looking in other areas of the city.
“Even a large group of people can only cover so much ground, but if everyone is doing what they can in their own internal neighbourhoods it is definitely more helpful than searching in just one specific area,” her brother says.
Zubair also explains his family’s appreciation for the public response, stating: “We are very thankful to all the community members who are assisting right now. We are hoping and praying. God willing we will find her soon.”
Her family says they are very concerned for her safety.
According to the Facebook group, she was last seen wearing black pants, a floral green shirt, and a navy or black zip-up sweater. She is 5’5”, with a slender build, dark brown eyes, and black hair.
For updates on Zabia’s disappearance, or for information on search parties, visit the Facebook group “Find Zabia,” or the Twitter page @findzabia.
If you have any information regarding her disappearance, please call York Regional Police at 1-866-876-5423 ext. 7441.
