The father of a missing college student from Northern Virginia said Tuesday that he is “coming to terms with the fact” that his 20-year-old daughter drowned while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, where authorities have been searching for her on land and sea for nearly two weeks.

Sudiksha Konanki, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh whose family lives in Loudoun County, was reportedly last seen about 4:15 a.m. on March 6 on a beach near the Riu Republica Hotel at the easternmost tip of the Caribbean island nation, the Dominican National Police said. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said Konanki was on the beach before dawn that day with a 22-year-old Iowa man whom she met at the resort during her spring break.

Although authorities initially described the man as “a person of interest” in the investigation, he has not been accused of a crime, nor has Konanki’s disappearance been deemed criminal. Authorities feared from the start that Konanki drowned because “the boy who was with her” on the beach told investigators that “the waves swept her away,” Jensen Sánchez, a Civil Defense spokesman, told the Associated Press.

“It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned,” her father, Subbarayudu Konanki, said Tuesday outside his Loudoun home, according to WTTG-TV (Channel 5). Reading a statement haltingly on camera, the father said: “This is incredibly difficult for us to process. We kindly ask you to keep our daughter in your prayers. We still have two young children to care for.”

He added: “We respectfully request some space, time and privacy to focus on healing … and helping our children recover as we try to move forward with our lives.”

Neither Subbarayudu Konanki nor Dominican police officials could be immediately reached for comment Tuesday. The sea near the hotel, in the town of Punta Cana, is notoriously treacherous, according to the news outlet Dominican Today, which reported that at least three European tourists drowned there in January after being swept away in the surf. At least one remains missing.

Chad Quinn, a spokesman for the Loudoun sheriff, confirmed that Subbarayudu Konanki and his wife, Sreedevi Konanki, sent a letter to Dominican authorities asking them to formally declare their daughter deceased. “They sent a similar letter to us,” Quinn said. A Fox News correspondent posted a copy of the couple’s letter to Dominican officials on social media.

“Following an extensive search, Dominican authorities have concluded that [Konanki] is believed to have drowned,” the letter reads. “Her clothes were discovered on the beach near where she was last seen. The individual last seen with her is cooperating with the investigation, and no evidence of foul play has been found. Given these circumstances, and after much deliberation, we request that the police department proceed with the legal declaration of her death.”

The Loudoun sheriff’s office, which is involved in the investigation because it received a missing-person report in the case, last week described the Iowa man as a “person of interest in a missing person case” while stressing that the matter had not been deemed criminal. Two sheriff’s detectives traveled to the Dominican Republic and interviewed the man, Quinn said, “and found him to be cooperative.” As a result, Quinn said, “he is no longer considered a person of interest.”

Konanki was vacationing in the Dominican Republic with five friends, authorities said. Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman said the Iowa man “did not travel from the University of Pittsburgh” with Konanki and her companions. Authorities said Konanki’s friends were not with her and the man on the beach when she disappeared.