Dominican Republic 20-year-old American tourist missing, searching – Country
Authorities in the Dominican Republic are searching for a 20-year-old student from the University of Pittsburgh who disappeared last week during spring break in Punta Cana.
Sudiksha Konanki was last seen on surveillance cameras, with seven other people entering the Riurepública hotel in Punta Cana around 4:15 a.m. Thursday, a statement from the Dominican National Police Department showed.
Konanki, a resident of Loudon County, Virginia, 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. Friday by receiving a call from the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo.
At around 5:55 a.m. Thursday, surveillance cameras captured five women and a man left the beach. According to a local police source speaking with CNN, Konanki is believed to be with a young man.
Sources told The Outlet that the surveillance video also showed the man leaving the beach area at 9:55 a.m. without signs of Konanki.
ABC News reported that Konanki is believed to have died of drowning. According to a police report by ABC News, police said Kang Ki and the man she was caught in big waves while swimming.
Authorities have interviewed the man for details about what happened when both were alone. Dominican police are also expanding their investigation to confirm the man's story and question the people who met Konanki last Thursday.
“So far, authorities, multiple authorities in the Dominican Republic have conducted searches in the waters. They have used helicopters and other tools to search. They have also searched near the bays, bushes, trees. They have gone several times in the same area,” Konaki's father Subbarayudu told CNN.
“My daughter is a very good girl,” he added. “She is ambitious. She wants to pursue a career in medicine.”
According to Konanki's father, she told her friends on Wednesday that she was going to a party at the resort.
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“She went to the beach with her friends and some other people they met at the resort at 4 a.m. on March 6,” he said. “Since after that, her friend came back a while later, my daughter did not come back and did not show up from the beach.”
Konaki's father hopes local authorities “have to investigate other possibilities, including whether this is abduction or human trafficking.”
He added: “We don't think she can survive in the water for more than three days, and I think something else could happen to her.”
The search for Konanki began on Friday, said La Altagracia Civil Defence, local emergency operations agency in the Dominican Republic.
According to NBC News, the National Police said “exhaustive searches” were conducted using drones, helicopters, divers, vessels and canine units.
“Several brigades were deployed at sea and on land to find the whereabouts of foreigners,” the agency said in a statement.
Authorities resumed the search at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, continuing to use drones and helicopters to help with the search.
“To coordinate with the tourism police, civil defense, Dominican Navy, the national police and other rescue organizations, four advanced technology-equipped drone teams have been deployed to conduct a thorough search in the coastal areas of Bavaro,” the Dominican National Emergency System said in a statement issued on Sunday.
The RIU hotel chain said in a statement on Sunday that it “attention deeply to the disappearance of one of our guests.”
“From the moment she was reportedly absent, we have been working closely with local authorities, including the police and the navy, to conduct a thorough search,” the hotel said. “We want to express our deepest sympathy to family and friends during this extremely difficult time … we are completely committed to doing everything we can to assist in this situation.”
A spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh urged any information about Konanki's disappearance to contact the Loudon County Sheriff's Office.
“University officials are in contact with Sudiksha Konanki's family and authorities in Loudon County, Virginia, and we are fully supportive of our efforts to find her and take her home safely,” a spokesperson told NBC News.
Loudon County Sheriff Michael Chapman said his office is working with Dominican authorities and state and federal agencies to help locate Connata.
The FBI also said the Dominican authorities are leading the investigation, but the bureau is “once ready to assist our international partners in making any requests for assistance.”
Konanki is also a citizen of India, but her family has lived in the United States since 2006 and is a permanent resident.
India's embassy in the Dominican Republic is also helping with the investigation.
“The Indian Embassy holds a leadership position on DR and works with our State Department and the Implementation Legal Department. “Our Office is supporting these efforts and continuing to conduct investigations locally,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to CNN. ”
The news comes after an Edmonton man suffered a brain trauma in a bar attack in the Dominican Republic.
Chase Delorme-Rowan celebrated his 18th birthday with his family in January at a vacation bar in Royalton Plass in Punta Cana when he was lifted by his shirt collar and first hit the tiled floor of the resort bar.
It ruptured his skull from top to bottom, and a grapefruit-sized blood clot made his brain flow.
A Canadian man who is also a guest at the resort was accused of assault causing personal injury.
– Canadian media documents
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