Indian-Origin Student In US Sudiksha Konanki Mysteriously Vanishes In Dominican Republic, Search Underway

Authorities in the Dominican Republic are searching for a 20-year-old Indian-origin student who went missing while on her spring break trip with classmates. According to the New York Post, Sudiksha Konanki, a University of Pittsburgh student, was reported missing on Thursday, while travelling with a group in the resort town of Punta Cana. Authorities in the Dominican Republic said Ms Konanki went missing while "walking the beach" and has not been seen or heard from since.

"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 Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokesperson said Saturday, per the Post.  

The 20-year-old is said to have vanished while walking on the beach wearing a bikini, local officials said. A missing person's poster describes her as 5 feet 3 inches, 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, the poster detailed. 

In a statement, the University of Pittsburgh officials said they were working with Ms Konanki's family and local authorities in Virginia. "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, according to the outlet. 

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Defensa Civil, a search and rescue team based in the Dominican Republic, set out to look for her Saturday evening, but around 8pm the crew called off the search for the day. Defensa Civil said the search for Konanki would continue on Sunday. 

Sudiksha Konanki is expected to graduate from the university in 2026, according to her LinkedIn profile. It is unclear what her major is. Prior to college, she attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.