Authorities in the Dominican Republic are looking on earth, by plane and in the ocean for a 20 -year student from the University of Pittsburgh who disappeared last week during the spring holidays Punta Canada.
Sudiksha Konanki was seen for the last time on a surveillance camera with seven other people entering the beach of the Riu República hotel in Punta Cana around 4:15 am Thursday, according to a statement from the Dominican national police.
Konanki, a resident of the County of Virginia, arrived in the Dominican Republic on Monday March 3 with five other students from the University of Pittsburgh. Police learned of his disappearance after 8 am Friday thanks to a call from the United States Embassy in Santo Domingo.
Around 5:55 am Thursday, the surveillance camera captured five women and a man leaving the beach. Konanki would have stayed with a young man, according to a local police source Speak with cnn.
The surveillance video also shows that the man leaving the beach at 9:55 am without a sign of Konanki, the source told the point of sale.
ABC News reports that Konanki would have died by drowning. According to a police report, quoted by ABC News, the police said that Konanki and the man with whom she was captured by a large wave when they went swimming.
The authorities interviewed the man to discover details on what happened when the two were alone. Dominican police also expanded his investigation to corroborate the history of man and question the people who were seen for the last time with Konanki on Thursday.
“Until now, the authorities, several authorities here in the Dominican Republic have searched in the waters. They searched using helicopters and other tools. They also searched in the bay, bushes, trees. They went several times in the same areas, “Konaki’s father, Subbarayudu, told CNN.
“My daughter is a very nice girl,” he added. “She is ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine. »»
According to Konanki’s father, she told her friends on Wednesday that she was heading for a party at the station.
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“She went to the beach on March 6, early in the morning around 4 am with friends and other guys they met at the complex,” he said. “After that, his friends returned after a while and my daughter did not come back, did not appear from the beach.”
Konaki’s father wants local authorities to “also investigate other possibilities, especially if it is a case of abduction or trafficking in human beings”.
“We do not think that she could survive for more than three days in the water and I think that something else could have happened to her,” he added.
The Civil Defense of the Altagracia, the local emergency operations agency of the Dominican Republic, said that Konanki’s search had started on Friday.
According to NBC NewsNational police said that a “exhaustive research had been launched 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 fate of abroad”, ” The agency said in a press release.
The authorities resumed research at 6 am on Saturday and Sunday, continuing to use drones and helicopters to help research.
“In coordination with the tourist police, civil defense, the Dominican Navy, national police and other rescue organizations, four drone teams equipped with advanced technologies were deployed to carry out in -depth research in the Bávaro coastal zone,” the Dominican national emergency system said on Sunday.
The Riu hotels chain said in a press release On Sunday, he was “deeply concerned about the disappearance of one of our guests”.
“From the moment his absence was reported, we worked closely with local authorities, including the police and the navy, to carry out in -depth research,” said the hotel. “We would like to express our deeper sympathy to family and friends during this incredibly difficult period … We are fully committed to doing everything in our power to help in this situation.”
A spokesperson for the University of Pittsburgh has exhorted anyone with information On the disappearance of Konanki to contact the Sheriff’s Bureau of the county of Loudoun.
“University officials are in contact with the family of Sudiksha Konanki as well as the county authorities of Loudoun, Virginia, and we offered our full support in their efforts to find and bring her home,” the spokesman for NBC News said.
The sheriff of the county of Loudoun, Michael Chapman, said that his office worked with the Dominican authorities and the state and federal agencies to help locate Konanki.
The FBI also said that the Dominican authorities are led the investigation, but that the office “is ready to help our international partners at any assistance request”.
Konanki is also a citizen of India, but his family has lived in the United States since 2006 and is permanent residents.
The Indian Embassy in the Dominican Republic also helps the investigation.
“The Embassy of India in Dr took the lead by working with our State Department and the forces of the field law. Our office supports these efforts and continues to investigate locally, “said the sheriff’s office in a statement at CNN.
The news comes after a Edmonton’s man underwent brain trauma during a bar attack in the Dominican Republic.
Chase Delorme-Rowan was in a royalton splash resort in Punta Cana with his family in January to celebrate his 18th birthday when he was raised by the collar of his shirt and slammed the head first on a tile floor in a vacation bar.
He cracked his skull from top to bottom, and a naughty blood the size of a grapefruit moved his brain.
A Canadian who was also invited to the station was accused of assault causing bodily injury.
– With Canadian press files
& Copy 2025 Global News, A Division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
