While the Americans are planning the spring trips abroad after the student’s disappearance in the United States, Sodiksha Conniki, a veteran expert in the secret service and travel safety expert provided guidance to stay safe on vacation.
“I think that when we talk about the safety of travel, whether studying abroad or on the spring vacation, there are a number of things that students need, or any person, to some extent when they go to these types of sites,” said Bobby McDonald, Undersecretary of Secret Services for more than 20 years with presidential protection and deputy presidential protection.
Konanki, a 20 -year -old student at Virginia, who was on the spring vacation in the Dominican Republic, disappeared from the Rio Ribbra resort in Punta, in the early morning hours of March 6.
People enjoy the beach time at the Rio Ribobka Resort in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic, March 14, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
McDonald, Professor of Criminal Justice at the University Traveling abroad.
“You want to try to stay in the property, in the resort, if you will,” he said. “Once you get out of the property, you can quickly find yourself in an area you don’t want to be.”
He added that traveling in groups is also very important, noting that the spring sector should not be separated from each other.
“As you know, we want our students to go out and spend a fun time and explode the steam, but you must be very careful. Once again, run in packages with your group,” said McDonald. “Stay in the hotel and around the hotel. If you are at the hotel and there is something wrong, know where you’re going.
“For example, I think they had a power of strength on one night at the hotel where the young lady was staying, and reports indicate that everyone went to the beach to a kind of cold. Everyone was there in a package, and we hope that they would deal with this situation and search for each other.”
The view of the beach in Bimini, the Bahamas, May 1, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki/Nurphoto via Getty Images)
Several guests were published in RIU Republica during the period of Konanki’s disappearance on their social media accounts about the power and water outages in the five -star resort. De Lanny Suene, who was a guest at the resort when Conancke disappeared, told Fox News Digital The situation was “messy” In the resort.
The resort said that the power outage did not play any role in the disappearance of Conanky, saying that the authority was restored before Konanki was The missing was reported.
“The power outage occurred during the early hours of Tuesday, 4 March, to Wednesday, 5 March, specifically at 1:27 am,” said Rio News Digiter. “Two hours later, the service was restored to 70 %, while the remaining power supplies were completely re -supplied on Wednesday night to Thursday, specifically at 2:13 am, which is before the disappearance time.”
Konanki is believed to have disappeared around 4:30 am.
Grace Bay Beach, Providenciales, Turks and Cikos, UK’s external dependency. (Getty Images)
If a friend is lost abroad, McDonald has placed a protocol to deal with the situation.
“The first thing you have to do is you will need to report the hotel,” he said. Second, you need to call the police by the hotel to come and help find this person, and this time is traveling, you have to let the American consulate or the American embassy know.
McDonald added: “At any time we travel outside the United States, you must have a number of American consulate or the US embassy where you go so that you can quickly withdraw this on your phone and inform the embassy that you may need some help,” McDonald added. “You want to involve a person from the Foreign Ministry participating in this quickly if someone lost your party.”
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Another known Footage of Conniki She came from a security camera and showed her walking with a group of people towards the beach in her resort in Punta Cana. The authorities said that they are the case of a missing person, not a criminal case.
The disappearance of women like Conancke and Natalie Holwai, Which disappeared in Aruba in 2005 during a graduation journey from secondary schools, they became high -level issues over the years. McDonald warned that men are not immune to these travel safety guidelines.
“I think, traditionally, we think more women are targeted,” he said. “However, I think men are vulnerable to evil activity in sites like this like women. They should also be very careful.”
People enjoy the beach time at the RIU Republica resort 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 intense scrutiny, McDonald said that security monitoring is now a prevailing part of daily life, which must give them a degree of comfort.
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People have one day enjoying the Playa Defines Beach in the Kanikon Hotel area, Quintana Row, Mexico, November 8, 2022. (Daniel Selim/AFP via Getty Images)
“There are security cameras everywhere now,” he said. “So, whether you are in a street corner in New York City, whether you are in the Punta Cannes Resort, there are security cameras everywhere. So, if you do nothing you should not do, you will not have anything to worry. But also remember that many places do not have complete coverage of security cameras. In other words, there are pieces and pieces along the way.”
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