While the Americans plan the spring holidays abroad after the disappearance of the student of Sudiksha Konanki, a veteran of the secret services and a travel safety expert offered advice to stay safe on vacation.
“I think that when we are talking about travel safety, whether studies abroad or for spring holidays, there are a number of things that students, or anyone, must be careful when they go to this type of location,” said Bobby McDonald, secret service agent for more than 20 years with an experience in the presidential, the vice-presidential and the vice-presidential protection, Fox News Digital.
Konanki, a 20 -year -old student from the University of Pittsburgh, Virginia, who was on spring vacation in the Dominican Republic, disappeared from the Riu Republica Resort in Punta Cana at the start of the morning of March 6.
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People enjoy time on the Riu Republica Resort beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on March 14, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
McDonald, professor of criminal justice at New Haven University, advised Spring Breakers to stay close to the areas they know during his trips abroad.
“You want to try to stay on the property, in the station, if you want,” he said. “Once you leave the property, it is very quickly that you can find yourself in an area that you do not want to be.”
Traveling in a group is also essential, he added, noting that spring breakers should not separate from each other.
“You know, we want our students to go out and have a good time and go wild, but you have to be, so careful. And, again, run in packs with your group,” said McDonald. “Stay in and around the hotel. If you are at the hotel and something was going badly, know where you would go.
“For example, I think they had a power outage the only night at the hotel where the young woman was staying, and reports indicate that everyone went to the beach to cool off. Everyone was there in a pack, let’s hope, in a way with this situation and looking at each other.”
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A view of Bimini’s beach, Bahamas, May 1, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki / Nurphoto via Getty Images)
Several guests from the RIU Republica during the disappearance of Konanki published on their social media accounts on power and water failures in the five -star complex. From Lani Sweeney, who was invited to the complex when Konanki disappeared, told Fox News Digital The The situation was “chaotic” at the complex.
The complex said that the power failure had not played any role in the disappearance of Konanki, saying that the power had been restored before Konanki was missing.
“The electrical failure occurred in the early hours from Tuesday March 4 to Wednesday March 5, in particular at 1:27,”, told Fox News Digital Marc Mirales Pons, spokesperson for Riu Republica. “Two hours later, the service was 70%restored, while the remaining food was completely reintegrated from the night from Wednesday to Thursday, especially at 2:13 am, which is before the time of disappearance.”
Konanki would have disappeared around 4:30 am on March 6.
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Grace Bay Beach, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, dependence abroad of the United Kingdom. (Getty Images)
If a friend disappears abroad, McDonald presented a protocol to manage the situation.
“The first thing you need to do is that you would need to report it at the hotel,” he said. “Secondly, you have to call the police by the hotel to help find this person, and that’s it, you need to let the US Consulate or Embassy know.
“Whenever we travel outside the United States, you should have the United States consulate number or the United States Embassy where you can get it quickly on your phone and let you know that you may need help,” added McDonald. “You want to have someone from the State Department involved in this time fairly quickly if someone in your group disappears.”
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The last known Konanki images came from a security camera and showed him walk with a group of people to his station beach in Punta Cana. He was considered a matter of a missing person, not a criminal case, the authorities said.
The disappearances of women like Konanki and Netalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba in 2005 during a secondary school diploma trip, have become very publicized cases over the years. Men are not immune to these travel safety guidelines, however, warned McDonald.
“I think that, traditionally, we think it is more than women are targeted,” he said. “But no, I think that men are just as sensitive to harmful activity in places like this like women. They must also be very cautious.”
People enjoy time on the Riu Republica Resort beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, March 13, 2025. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
While men who are the last to be seen with a missing woman are often the subject of a meticulous examination, McDonald said that safety surveillance is now a widespread part of daily life, which should give them a comfort of comfort.
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People enjoy a day in Playa Delfines Beach in the Cancun hotel area, Quintana Roo State, Mexico, November 8, 2022. (Daniel Slim / AFP via Getty Images)
“There are now security cameras everywhere,” he said. “So, whether you are in a street corner in New York, whether you are at Punta Cana Resort, there are security cameras everywhere. So, if you don’t do anything you should do, you have nothing to fear. But also remember that many places have no complete security cameras. In other words, there are songs.”
