The authorities in Spain are searching for a University of Alabama student who disappeared early Tuesday in Barcelona during a night out at a club, the police said.
The 20-year-old student, James Gracey, was visiting friends who are studying abroad in Spain and had gone to Shoko, a popular beachfront nightclub, before he went missing, according to a statement from his family on Tuesday.
Allison Gracey, Mr. Gracey’s aunt, said in a phone interview on Thursday that the police in Spain told the family that they had his phone and his wallet, but she said that they were not told where the items were discovered, or how. She said there has been no arrests in the case.
“He was with friends but they got separated at the end of the night,” his mother, Therese Gracey, wrote on social media on Tuesday. “They’re all out looking for him.” She said her son’s friends lost touch with him around 3 a.m., and he never returned to the short-term rental where he was staying.
The police in Barcelona have deployed helicopters as well as maritime and underwater units around Vila Olímpica, the neighborhood where Mr. Gracey went missing, according to an officer with the regional police force who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. The police are also reviewing security camera footage to try to retrace Mr. Gracey’s steps in the area, which is known for its nightlife.
The Mossos d’Esquadra, the regional police force, declined to comment on the case, calling it an active investigation. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Gracey said that Mr. Gracey’s father, Taras, had traveled to Spain to work with investigators. She urged anyone who may have been in the area to check the videos and photos on their phones to see if any of them contained images of Mr. Gracey, who she referred to by his nickname “Jimmy,” and to report any sightings to the authorities.
“Jimmy’s a very responsible kid, very loyal and very active in the community,” she said. “And not being in contact with his family and friends, especially the friends he was traveling with, is just unlike him.”
David Gracey, Mr. Gracey’s uncle and a producer at CNN, told the news organization that his nephew had a return flight to the United States booked for Saturday.
Mr. Gracey, who is originally from Elmhurst, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, is the oldest of five children and an avid hockey player, his uncle told CNN. He is also a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity at the University of Alabama, where he was recently elected chaplain, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Cavin McLay, a member of Mr. Gracey’s fraternity, told the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, Ala., that Mr. Gracey is “the guy that’s always there when someone needs it.”
“We’re heartbroken and just keeping our heads held high and remaining hopeful that we find him safe,” he said.
Alex House, a spokeswoman for the University of Alabama, said in a statement that Mr. Gracey had been on a personal trip when he went missing, and encouraged anyone with information about him to contact the authorities.
In recent years, there have been several cases of U.S. college students going missing while abroad that have drawn widespread attention. Last year, Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old biology student at the University of Pittsburgh, went missing during a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic. Her disappearance prompted an intense, weekslong search involving drones, helicopters, divers and boats, but she was never found.
In 2022, in a case with a positive outcome, Kenny DeLand Jr. went missing in France before he turned up more than two weeks later in Spain. Mr. DeLand, a student at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, N.Y., at the time, had stopped communicating with his family, leading to a frantic search that included an Interpol alert, before he said he saw himself “in the news” and called his family.
Rylee Kirk contributed reporting.
Jonathan Wolfe is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news.
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