Authorities in the Dominican Republic are searching for a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student who went missing while “walking on the beach” in her bikini in Punta Cana while on a spring break trip with classmates.
Sudiksha Konanki, from a tony Washington, DC, suburb, was reported missing Thursday while traveling with a group in the resort town, officials with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office told 13 News Now.
Konanki disappeared while “walking on the beach” in the Caribbean island nation, authorities added.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, who had been on a trip with a group during spring break, was last seen wearing a brown bikini and bracelets.
“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,” a LCSO spokesperson said Saturday.
Konanki was last seen around 4:50 a.m. on the beach at Riu Republica Resort, WTAE reported.
A missing persons poster described Konanki as 5 feet 3 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes.
At the time she went missing, she was wearing a brown 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.
Follow the latest on the search for missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki:
- Joshua Riibe detained in Puerto Rico as his frustrated dad tells reporters to leave them alone after Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance
- Josh Riibe is ‘free to leave’ the DR after being held in Sudiksha Konanki disappearance, judge rules
- Sudiksha Konanki’s parents reveal they now think she drowned and that Josh Riibe wasn’t responsible
- Parents of missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki ask DR officials to declare daughter dead
- Joshua Riibe officially cleared in Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance in the DR
In a statement, University of Pittsburgh officials said they were working with Konanki’s family and local authorities in Virginia, who were helping in the search.
Konanki was reported missing Thursday in Punta Cana. Handout
Crews searched all day Saturday for Konanki. Instagram / @defensacivilrd
Konanki was last seen on the beach Thursday, authorities said. Instagram / @defensacivilrd“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 said.
Defensa Civil, a Dominican Republic search and rescue force, started searching for the missing student Saturday and had plans to resume the search early Sunday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
