Rough surf at Dominican Republic beach where Pitt student disappeared has claimed 3 lives this year alone
The rough waters at the Dominican Republic resort where University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki disappeared has claimed lives in the past ā including three tourists who drowned this year alone.
Three European tourists at the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana were swept away and drowned on Jan. 17, while a fourth ā a tourist from Russia ā was hospitalized, Dominican Today said.
Only one of the bodies was recovered, the outlet reported.
The Dominican Republic National Police believe that Sudiksha, 20, who was on spring break at the Riu resort with five friends when she disappeared in the early morning hours of March 6.
Authorities think she likely drowned after going into the water following a night of partying, however her family are not satisfied with that explanation and want cops to investigate whether she may have been kidnapped.
At least 300 law enforcement personnel ā including from the FBI and sheriffās deputies from the co-edās hometown in Virginia ā are in their sixth day of a massive search for Sudiksha.
The last person to see her alive, identified as Iowa resident Joshua Steven Riibe, told police they went into the water but he fled the waves and passed out drunk on the beach ā leaving her in the surf.
If she did drown, as local authorities suggest, Sudiksha would not be the first to die in the water at the Caribbean beach.
Polish nationals Marcin Teodor Checinski, 47, and Sylwia Aleksandra, 52, along with Portuguese tourist Nelzon Nunes Ribeiro, 67, were washed out to see and drowned, Dominican Today reported.
In 2023, an American tourist, 67-year-old Jorene Richards, drowned off shore at Punta Cana while on a snorkeling expedition, with three crew members later fined, the outlet said in a report at the time.
In another rough surf tragedy, a family of four from Philadelphia, including a newlywed couple, were washed away at the beach and drowned in 2015, WTVD-TV News reported.
Kajal and Kush Patel were with a group of relatives when Kajal began struggling in the water ā prompting her husband and two cousins, brothers Shivang and Jay Patel, swam out to help her.
All four were pulled out to see and lost their lives, the outlet said.
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