HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Bích Ngọc, a 27-year-old Vietnamese student who went missing in France earlier this year, was pronounced dead by her family on Tuesday after more than five months of extensive searching.

"There was no miracle," said Vũ Quang Minh, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany.

"According to a family statement, Ngọc has died in France. I send my deepest condolences to the family," Minh added.

Ngọc, known by her nickname "Emma" to foreign friends, had been studying in a postgraduate programme at the SKEMA Business School's Grand Paris Campus since 2022. She went to Amsterdam in the Netherlands for an internship from September to December 2023.

On January 28, Ngọc's parents in Việt Nam had a two-hour-long call with her, which was the last they heard of Ngọc for about a month. According to Ngọc's father, Nguyễn Cao Đẳng, the family was doing all that they could to search for her, and they believed that the girl went missing in either France or the Netherlands.

According to her parents, Ngọc, who was due to graduate in June, had been offered a job at an American investment bank believed by the family to be Goldman Sachs' Amsterdam branch, where she earlier worked as an intern.

Ngọc had previously told her family that she rented a room in an apartment run by a Senegalese woman during her internship in Amsterdam. However, her European visa was due to expire in September, and the family believed that Ngọc went back to France as the visa deadline started approaching.

Đẳng said that the family has been sleepless waiting for news of Ngọc.

Đẳng went to Hagen in May to find his daughter, but to no avail. — VNS