Two sisters who went missing more than a week ago did not tell relatives they were “immediately” going to move out of their rented flat, it has emerged.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both aged 32, were last seen on CCTV on Market Street at Victoria Bridge in Aberdeen at about 2.12am on Tuesday January 7.
They crossed the bridge and turned right on to a footpath next to the River Dee, heading in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Extensive searches have been carried out in recent days, with the police helicopter, dog branch and the marine unit among the specialist resources involved.
Police said they are focusing on the River Dee as there is no evidence the women left the immediate area.
During the investigation, officers have learned the sisters, who are originally from Hungary and part of a set of triplets, had been planning to move out the flat they rented in the city.
Police divers have been searching the River Dee in the area where the sisters were last seen (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Police Superintendent David Howieson said on Tuesday: “There was an indication from the person from whom they rent a flat who had concerns that they left the flat and indicated they intended to move.”
However in an interview with the BBC, the sisters’ brother Jozsef said they did not inform their relatives of this decision – including during a phone call they had with their mother on the Saturday before their disappearance.
He said: “They wrote a message to their landlady that they wanted to immediately end their tenancy agreement. We didn’t have any information about that.
“So that’s the strange thing, that the girls didn’t tell us anything about that.
“They never mentioned any such plan.”
He told the broadcaster the women had no financial difficulties and were saving up to buy their own property.
Superintendent David Howieson said police remain ‘open minded’ about what happened to Eliza and Henrietta Huszti (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Police are keeping an open mind about what happened to the sisters, but have said they have not found anything to suggest a third party was involved.
Mr Howieson said: “We’re trying to remain open minded in terms of what the wider circumstances may have been.
“What we know is that the behaviour of the sisters in the morning on which they disappeared is very out of character.
“We don’t really understand why they seem to have left their home address and walked to this area in a fairly direct line before the CCTV footage of them is exhausted.
“One of our theories has to be that they’ve entered the water for reasons unknown, and that’s why so much of our search activity is focused on the river, the river bank, and the harbour itself, but we’re not ruling out the fact that they may have left this area by means that we haven’t identified yet.”
He added that during their investigation, police have not found anything that pointed towards “criminality or suspicious circumstances”.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti were last seen on CCTV in Market Street in Aberdeen (Police Scotland/PA)
The women are both described as white and of slim build with long, brown hair.
Police Scotland said they have the support of police in their home country, who are liaising with the wider family.
Mr Howieson said police remain “extremely concerned” about the sisters and urged anyone with information about their whereabouts to contact police.
The sisters’ family released a statement on Monday also appealing to anyone with any information to come forward.
“This has been a very worrying and upsetting time for our family,” the statement read.
“We are really worried about Eliza and Henrietta and all we want is for them to be found.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 0735 of January 7.