At least three people disappeared and only one body was recovered this year on the Punta Cana beach in the Dominican Republic where Indian student Sudiksha Konanki went missing, according to local media.
Before Ms Konanki, a University of Pittsburgh student, disappeared, three European visitors got swept away and died by drowning on January 17 on Arena Gorda beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Today reported.
They were reportedly staying at the Riu Republica Hotel, La Altagracia province. The outlet reported only one of the bodies was eventually discovered.
The dead were identified as Portuguese tourist Nelzon Nunes Ribeiro, 67, Marcin Teodor Checinski, 47, and Sylwia Aleksandra, 52, of Polish nationality. A fourth tourist, Radoslaw Marcin of Russia, was hospitalised. One more tourist, Jakub Tomasz Pedziach from Poland, was reported missing the same day.
The extraordinary waves of the Atlantic coast reportedly swept them away, resulting in their deaths. The Directorate of the Emergency Operations Centre (COE) restricted the coastal perimeter, per the guidelines provided by the Dominican Institute of Meteorology (Indomet).
Ms Konanki, 20, went missing early on March 6. She was on spring break at the Riu resort with five other friends, the Dominican Republic National Police earlier said.
The student is believed to have died by drowning, but her family suspects foul play and wants authorities to look into the possibility that she was abducted.
Joshua Steven Riibe, an Iowa resident, was the last person to see and accompany Ms Konanki. He told authorities that they went into the ocean, but he ran away from the waves and passed out on the beach while drunk, leaving the Indian student in the surf.
Authorities have since named Mr Riibe as a person of interest in the case but added that it remained an investigation of missing persons and not a criminal one. “This particular individual may have been the last to have seen her, so it is of particular interest,” spokesperson Chad Quinn told USA Today.