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Authorities believe that Sudiksha Konanki, a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student who went missing in the Dominican Republic last week, likely drowned after being caught in a powerful wave.
Young Girl Went for a Swim
Konanki was on a Punta Cana beach on Wednesday night with six other people before most of the group left for the night. However, she and one other person remained on the beach into early Thursday morning, according to three Dominican officials who spoke to ABC News.
According to an investigative police report cited by ABC News, Konanki and the other individual later went for a swim, where they encountered a large wave. The young woman, who was a legal permanent U.S. resident from an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., has not been seen since.
Investigation and Search Efforts for Sudiksha Konanki
Local reports indicate that Konanki, an Indian national, had traveled to the Caribbean island for a spring break trip with five friends from the University of Pittsburgh. The person she was last seen swimming with, identified only as a “young man” by the Dominican outlet Listin Diario, was questioned by authorities. However, it remains unclear whether he was also a student at the university.
Surveillance footage recorded Konanki at the beach around 4:15 a.m. on Thursday, according to the Dominican Republic Public Ministry. Despite reports suggesting she may have drowned, a spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia—where Konanki was from—told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the drowning theory is “based on her last known location near the beach, but [there’s] no evidence to support that conclusion at this time.”
Rescue teams launched an extensive search operation, deploying helicopters and drones to scan the water while crews combed the shoreline in an effort to locate her.
Who Was Sudiksha Konanki?
Konanki was a promising student at the University of Pittsburgh, preparing to enter pre-med studies. Her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, shared with CNN that his daughter had traveled to Punta Cana for spring break.
“My daughter is a very nice girl. She’s ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine,” he said, adding that she aspired to become a doctor.
Konanki was pursuing a degree in chemistry and biological sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. She had previously earned a diploma in biological sciences from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in 2022, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The Konanki family, originally from India, has lived in the United States since 2006 and holds permanent residency status.
A flyer circulated on Instagram describes Konanki as 5 feet 3 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She was a resident of Ashburn, Virginia.
