Twenty-year-old Sudiksha Konanki, an Indian-origin student, has gone missing in Dominican Republic where she was on a spring break trip with her classmates. The local police have expanded their scope of investigation, deploying "several brigades have been deployed by sea and land", according to Defensa Civil, a Dominican Republic search and rescue force. She was last seen with a man right before her disappearance in Punta Cana. The police said she was last seen on CCTV with seven other people entering the beach at the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana after 4.15 am Thursday (March 6). Later surveillance video shows the man leaving the beach area at 9:55 am without Ms Konanki.
Who is Sudiksha Konanki?
As per the police, Ms Konanki is a University of Pittsburgh student. Her father told CNN that his daughter had gone to Punta Cana for spring break, ahead of pre-med studies at Pittsburgh.
"My daughter is a very nice girl. She's ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine," Subbarayudu Konanki said, adding that his daughter wants to be a doctor.
Ms Konanki is a chemistry and biological sciences student at the University of Pittsburgh. She received a diploma in biological sciences from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in 2022, per her LinkedIn page.
The Konanki family, originally from India, has lived in the United States since 2006 and are permanent residents.
A flyer posted on Instagram describes Ms Konanki as 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She is a resident of Ashburn, Virginia.
Social media buzz
A Maryland resident has posted details about Ms Konanki, offering help in spreading the information about her. The post said 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 multi-coloured beaded bracelet on her left hand.
The University of Pittsburgh has urged anyone with information to contact the Loudoun County Sherrif's Office.
ABC News quoted Dominican officials as saying that Ms Konanki could have died by drowning.
