Pitt Student Missing In Dominican Republic May Have Drowned: Report

PITTSBURGH, PA — A University of Pittsburgh student from Northern Virginia who has been missing for several days may have drowned, authorities told ABC News.

Sudiksha Konanki was last seen while on a spring break trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

Three Dominican officials told ABC News that Konanki is believed to have drowned, the outlet reported Sunday. She and another person went swimming and were caught by a large wave, ABC News reported, citing a Dominican Republic police report, which said she was last seen on security footage around 4:50 a.m. Thursday.

Konanki is 20 years old and a resident of Ashburn, Virginia, according to a flyer about her disappearance provided by the University of Pittsburgh.

She was one of six University of Pittsburgh students traveling in Punta Cana, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office in Virginia, which noted two of the students are Loudoun County residents and Konanki is a citizen of India.

"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,” a university spokesperson said in a prepared statement Sunday.

The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office was contacted Thursday evening about Konanki's disappearance and has since been in communication with federal authorities and officials in the Dominican Republic, according to the agency. The embassy of India in the Dominican Republic has taken the lead in working with authorities on the ground, the sheriff's office said.

"Our office is supporting those efforts and continuing to investigate locally," according to the sheriff's office.

Defensa Civil La Altagracia, an emergency response agency in the Dominican Republic, said in a social media post Saturday morning written in Spanish and translated by Facebook that authorities including firefighters and police were searching the water and land of the coastal area of Bavaro.

Konanki is 5 feet, 3 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes, according to the flyer. She was last seen wearing a brown bikini.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to contact the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office in Virginia at 703-777-1021.