US student vanishes in spring break trip to Dominican Republic while walking on beach

A University of Pittsburgh student has mysteriously vanished while on a spring break holiday in the Dominican Republic, and searches are currently underway.

Sudiksha Konanki, 20, from northern Virginia, was first reported missing on Thursday in Punta Cana, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. Punta Cana is located in the east of the Caribbean island nation and is a popular tourist hot spot. 

Konanki was last seen at around 4:50 a.m. on a beach at the five-star Riu Republica Resort and has not been heard from since, according to a flyer being circulated online. Local news reports say she was walking on a beach at the time.

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Konanki was part of a group of six female University of Pittsburgh students traveling to the area, a spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital. Konanki is a citizen of India and the sheriff’s office was unable to say if she is also a U.S. citizen.

She is described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes, per the flyer.

The flyer says that she was last seen wearing a brown, two-piece bikini, big round earrings, a metal designer anklet on her right leg, yellow and steel bracelets on her right hand and a multicolored beaded bracelet on her left hand.

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Defensa Civil Dominicana, a Dominican Republic search and rescue force, said Saturday it had completed a full day’s search with operations scheduled to resume on Sunday.

“The Orange Search and Rescue Unit, along with other institutions, worked from early Saturday hours, trying to find the whereabouts of the young woman, Sudiksha Konanki, without success,” the agency wrote in a post on Instagram. 

The embassy of India in the Dominican Republic is working with the State Department and law enforcement on the ground, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said. 

“Our Sheriff’s Office is supporting those efforts and continuing to investigate locally,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The State Department’s latest travel advisory from June 2024 advises travelers to exercise increased caution in the Dominican Republic due to crime, giving it a Level 2 warning.

“Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide, and sexual assault, is a concern throughout the Dominican Republic,” the State Department advisory reads. 

It says that resorts are better policed than urban areas like Santo Domingo.

The University of Pittsburgh said it is in contact with Konanki’s family as well as authorities in Loudoun County, Virginia, and have offered their full support in to find her and bring her home safely, the institution told WTAE. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the University of Pittsburgh for further comment.