Dhaka, April 23 -- Anxious families and a widening police search are converging on the troubling disappearance of two Bangladeshi doctoral students in Florida.

The two Bangladeshi students of University of South Florida -- Zamil Ahamed Limon and Nahida Sultana Bristy -- have been missing for seven days.

Local police have issued a public alert seeking assistance, while their names and photographs have been added to Florida state and federal missing persons databases.

Limon, 27, and Bristy are friends who arrived in the United States as international students two years ago and enrolled at the university. They have been untraceable since the morning of Apr 16 local time.

University police spokesperson Larry McKinnon said by phone that fa...