Authorities in the Dominican Republic are searching on land, by air and in the ocean for a 20-year-old student from the University of Pittsburgh who disappeared last week on spring break in Punta Cana.
Sudiksha Konanki was last seen on a surveillance camera with seven other people entering the beach at the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana around 4:15 a.m. on Thursday, according to a statement from the Dominican National Police.
Konanki, a resident of Virginia’s Loudoun County, had arrived in the Dominican Republic on Monday, March 3 with five other female students from the University of Pittsburgh. Police learned about her disappearance after 8 a.m. on Friday through a call from the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo.
Around 5:55 a.m. on Thursday, the surveillance camera captured five women and one man leaving the beach. Konanki is believed to have stayed behind with a young man, according to a local police source speaking with CNN.
Surveillance video also shows the man leaving the beach area at 9:55 a.m. with no sign of Konanki, the source told the outlet.
ABC News reports that Konanki is believed to have died by drowning. According to a police report, cited by ABC News, police said Konanki and the man she was with were caught by a big wave when they went for a swim.
Authorities have interviewed the man to find out details about what happened when the two were alone. The Dominican police are also broadening their investigation to corroborate the man’s story and questioning the people who were last seen with Konanki on Thursday.
“So far, the authorities, multiple authorities here in the Dominican Republic have searched in the waters. They searched using helicopters and other tools. They also searched in the near bay, bushes, trees. They went multiple times around the same areas,” Konaki’s father, Subbarayudu, said to CNN.
“My daughter is a very nice girl,” he added. “She’s ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine.”
According to Konanki’s father, she had told her friends Wednesday that she was heading to a party at the resort.
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“She went to the beach on March 6, early morning around 4 a.m. with friends and some other guys they met at the resort,” he said. “After that, her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up from the beach.”
Konaki’s father wants local authorities “to also investigate other possibilities, including whether this is a case of kidnapping or human trafficking.”
“We don’t think she would be able to survive for more than three days in the water and I think something else might’ve happened to her,” he added.
La Altagracia Civil Defense, the local Dominican Republic emergency operations agency, said the search for Konanki began on Friday.
According to NBC News, national police said an “exhaustive search has been initiated by sea, air and land” using drones, helicopters, divers, boats and canine units.
“Several brigades have been deployed by sea and land to find the whereabouts of the foreigner,” the agency said in a statement.
Authorities resumed the search at 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, continuing to use drones and helicopters to help with the search.
“In coordination with the Tourism Police, the Civil Defense, the Dominican Navy, the National Police, and other rescue organizations, four teams of drones equipped with advanced technology have been deployed to conduct a thorough search in the coastal area of Bávaro,” the Dominican National Emergency System said in a statement issued on Sunday.
The Riu Hotels chain said in a statement on Sunday that it was “deeply concerned about the disappearance of one of our guests.”
“From the moment her absence was reported, we have been working closely with the local authorities, including the police and the navy, to conduct a thorough search,” the hotel said. “We would like to express our deepest sympathy to the family and friends during this incredibly difficult time … we are fully committed to doing everything in our power to assist in this situation.”
A University of Pittsburgh spokesperson has urged anyone with information on Konanki’s disappearance to contact the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
“University officials are in contact with Sudiksha Konanki’s family as well as authorities in Loudoun County, Virginia, and we have offered our full support in their efforts to find her and bring her home safely,” the spokesperson told NBC News.
Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman said his office is working with Dominican authorities and state and federal agencies to help locate Konanki.
The FBI also said Dominican authorities are leading the investigation but the bureau “stands ready to assist our international partners with any requests for assistance.”
Konanki is also a citizen of India, but her family has lived in the United States since 2006 and are permanent residents.
The Indian Embassy in the Dominican Republic is also helping with the investigation.
“The embassy of India in the DR has taken the lead working with our state department and law-enforcement on the ground. Our office is supporting those efforts and continuing to investigate locally,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement to CNN.
The news comes after an Edmonton man suffered a traumatic brain injury in a barroom attack in the Dominican Republic.
Chase Delorme-Rowan was at a resort bar at the Royalton Splash in Punta Cana with his family in January to celebrate his 18th birthday when he was lifted by the collar of his shirt and slammed head first onto a tile floor at a resort bar.
It cracked his skull from top to bottom, and a blood clot the size of a grapefruit displaced his brain.
A Canadian man who was also a guest at the resort has been charged with assault causing bodily harm.
— With files from The Canadian Press
