Dominican Republic beach where Pitt student disappeared has already claimed 3 tourists’ lives this year – and only 1 body was recovered: report
The rough waters at the Dominican Republic resort where University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki disappeared have claimed lives in the past — 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 — a tourist from Russia — was hospitalized, Dominican Today said.
Only one of the bodies was recovered, the outlet reported.
The Dominican Republic National Police believe the same may have happened to Konanki, 20, who was on spring break at the Riu resort with five friends when she disappeared in the early hours of March 6.
Authorities think she likely drowned after going into the water following a night of partying, but her family is not satisfied with that explanation and wants cops to investigate whether she may have been kidnapped.
At least 300 law enforcement personnel — including from the FBI and sheriff’s deputies from the co-ed’s hometown in Virginia — are in their sixth day of a massive search for Konanki.
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 — leaving her in the surf.
If she did drown, as local authorities suggest, Konanki would not be the first to die in the water at the Caribbean beach.
Follow the latest on the search for missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki:
- Joshua Riibe detained in Puerto Rico as his frustrated dad tells reporters to leave them alone after Sudiksha Konanki’s disappearance
- Josh Riibe is ‘free to leave’ the DR after being held in Sudiksha Konanki disappearance, judge rules
- Sudiksha Konanki’s parents reveal they now think she drowned and that Josh Riibe wasn’t responsible
- Parents of missing Pitt student Sudiksha Konanki ask DR officials to declare daughter dead
Polish nationals Marcin Teodor Checinski, 47, and Sylwia Aleksandra, 52, along with Portuguese tourist Nelzon Nunes Ribeiro, 67, were washed out to sea and drowned, Dominican Today reported.
In 2023, an American tourist, 67-year-old Jorene Richards, drowned 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 — prompting her husband and two cousins, brothers Shivang and Jay Patel, to swim out to help her.
All four were pulled out to sea and lost their lives, the outlet said.
