March 10 (UPI) — Authorities in the United States and the Dominican Republic are searching for a University of Pittsburgh student who has gone missing in the Caribbean country.
Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old Indian citizen and a U.S. permanent resident, was reported missing in the Dominican Republic on Thursday while on vacation in Punta Cana with five friends from college.
She was last seen at 4:50 a.m. Thursday on a beach at Punta Cana’s Riu Republica Resort.
The sheriff’s office for Loudoun County, located outside of Washington, D.C., said in a statement Sunday that it was assisting in the investigation into Konanki’s disappearance.
“The LCSO is working closely with our federal partners at the U.S. Department of State, FBI, DEA and Homeland Security Investigations as well as the University of Pittsburgh police in support of the ongoing investigation by the Dominican National Police,” it said.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin added in a separate statement that his administration was working with federal and local partners in the search for the missing woman.
Dominican Civil Defense confirmed the ongoing investigation, stating online Saturday that it had launched a search of the beach where she was last seen.
On Sunday, it said drones and helicopters from the Armed Forces were deployed in the effort.
Sudiksha Konanki’s father, Subbarayudu Konanki, told CNN that his daughter had gone on vacation ahead of her pre-med studies as she wanted to pursue a career in medicine.
“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. After that, her friends came back after some time and my daughter did not come back, did not show up on the beach,” he said, stating his daughter’s friends alerted authorities when she wasn’t in her room the next morning.
“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.”