Authorities in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean are searching on land, by air and in the water for a holidaying American student who disappeared last week.
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old US resident, who attends the University of Pittsburgh, was last seen on surveillance camera with seven other people entering the beach at the Riu República Hotel in Punta Cana early last Thursday, the Dominican National Police said.
Before heading to the beach, surveillance footage shows the group of Americans – Konanki, five other women and two men – had been drinking in the hotel’s lobby around 3am.
“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,” said her father, Subbarayudu Konanki.
Officials are using search dogs and drones to search for Konanki, the country’s search and rescue force Defensa Civil Dominicana said in a Facebook post on Monday.
Authorities have been interviewing a man in his 20s believed to be the last person to see Konanki last week, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
“She went to the beach on March 6 early morning around 4am with friends and some other guys they met at the resort,” Konanki’s father said.
“After that, her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up from the beach.”
Around 5.55am last Thursday, surveillance cameras captured five women and one man leaving the beach, while Konanki is believed to have stayed behind with the other young man, the local police source told CNN.
Later surveillance video shows the man leaving the beach area at 9.55am, the source said, with no sign of Konanki.
When Konanki didn’t return to her room, her companions initially searched for her before notifying authorities, according to the police source. The group then reported her missing to the hotel staff around 4pm last Thursday, the Riu hotel chain said in a statement.
The young man believed to have stayed with Konanki at the beach has told police multiple versions of the last time he saw the University of Pittsburgh student, the local police source said.
He told authorities they both went into the ocean but he felt sick, got out of the water and fell asleep on a lounge chair, according to the source.
He has said Konanki may have been swept away by a wave, left when he got out of the water, or saw her walking along the beach with the water up to her knees in the direction of where she had left her clothes, the source said.
The young man is not considered to be a suspect at this time, the source said.
Authorities found a sarong-style cover-up belonging to Konanki on a lounge chair on the beach and said there was no sign of violence, according to the source.
The US State Department has in place a Level 2 of 4 travel advisory for the Dominican Republic, advising Americans to use increased caution and not display signs of wealth.
“Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide, and sexual assault, is a concern throughout the Dominican Republic,” the agency said in a June advisory.
Officials in Virginia and India also involved
Konanki was at the resort with five other female students from the University of Pittsburgh, according to the sheriff’s office in Loudoun County, Virginia, where her family lives. The Konanki family, originally from India, has lived in the US since 2006 and are permanent residents.
The sheriff’s office was contacted last Thursday about Konanki’s disappearance and has followed up with “federal law enforcement, the US State Department and contacts in the Dominican Republic,” it said.
Additionally, the sheriff’s office said Monday it has requested a Yellow Notice – a worldwide police alert for a missing person – to be issued by Interpol.
“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.