Indian-Origin Student Goes Missing During Caribbean Vacation, Last Seen 4 Days Ago On Beach
She was last seen around 4:50 AM on the beach at the RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, while she was 'walking on the beach' during her vacation in Dominican Republic.
A 20-year-old Indian-origin student has gone missing in the Carribean island-nation of Dominican Republic. Sudiksha Konanki had gone on a vacation with her classmates during her spring break trip, but vanished while "walking on the beach". She was last seen four days ago.
Konanki, a student of University of Pittsburgh, was at a resort town in Punta Cana, from where she was reported missing on Thursday, officials with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office told 13 News Now.
Since then, authorities in the Dominican Republic and the United States are searcing for the missing Virginia woman who disappeared. She was last seen around 4:50 AM on the beach at the RIU Republica Resort in Punta Cana, Fox 32 reported.
At the time of her disappearance she was wearing a brown two-piece bikini, a metal designer anklet on her right leg, large round earrings, yellow and steel bracelets on her right hand, and a multicoloured beaded bracelet on her left hand.
A missing persons poster described Konanki as 5 feet, 3 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes, the New York Post reported.
"Our office was contacted on Thursday evening about a missing female from Loudoun County who was with a group of other people traveling in the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana specifically," the Post quoted a LCSO spokesperson as saying on Saturday.
Extensive Search Underway To Locate Konanki
The officials immediately followed up with federal law enforcement, contacts in the Dominican Republic, and the State Department to investigate the matter, Fox 32 reported.
In a statement, University of Pittsburgh stated that it was working with Konanki’s family and local authorities in Virginia, who were assisting with the search.
"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," university spokesperson Jared Stonesifer told Fox 5.
The Indian Embassy in Domician Republic has also taken the lead and is working alongside the state department and local law enforcement officials to trace Konanki.
An extensive search has been launched in the Domician Republic, with the Dominican Civil Defense, local firefighters, the Dominican Navy, the National Police, and Politur, the country’s tourist police, involved in the search operation. Drones have also been deployed to find the missing student, Fox 32 reported.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
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