Case of missing Chinese student treated as abduction

Zhang Yingying. (File photo released by police)

The FBI confirmed on Wednesday the case of a missing Chinese student in the U.S. is being treated as a kidnapping.

The 26-year-old Zhang Yingying is a visiting scholar at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois and has been in the U.S. for about a month.

It is said that Zhang was taken away by a black Saturn Astra vehicle on Friday afternoon and has been missing ever since. Police were notified on Saturday by her friends.

The Chinese Consulate General in Chicago has stepped in to help Zhang's family get U.S. visas.