Interpol issues Yellow Notice for Indian student missing in Dominican Republic

The Interpol has issued a Yellow Notice, alerting agencies globally, in the disappearance case of 20-year-old Indian student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic.

A Yellow Notice is a global police alert for a missing person. It is published for victims of parental abductions, criminal abductions (kidnappings) or unexplained disappearances. The Yellow Notice is a valuable law-enforcement tool that can increase the chances of a missing person being located, particularly if there is a possibility that the person might travel, or be taken, abroad.

Konanki, a Pittsburgh University student and Indian citizen who is a permanent US resident, was reported missing on March 6. She disappeared while walking on the beach at a hotel in Punta Cana, La Altagracia province.

According to the Interpol notice, Konanki is 1.6-metre tall and has three piercings on her right ear, with black hair and brown eyes.

The Yellow Notice gives high, international visibility to cases of abducted or missing persons that are flagged to border officials, making travel difficult.

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation joined the local Dominican police searching for Konanki.

The staff of Riu Republica Hotel, located in front of the beach from where Konanki went missing, told the law-enforcement agencies that the woman's disappearance coincided with a power outage that prompted multiple guests to head to the beach.

Dominican police say they've been re-interviewing people who were with Konanki before she went missing. Investigators have been using drones, helicopters and detection dogs to search waters off the island's east coast.