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Search efforts continued early on Wednesday after nearly 100 people died in a nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic.
The popular Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing at the Jet Set nightclub before hundreds of people when the collapse occurred shortly after midnight on Tuesday, was one of those killed, according to his manager.
Relatives of clubgoers gathered around the disaster site in the capital, Santo Domingo, as rescuers ferried the injured to hospital and used a crane to remove debris.
“We have some friends here, a niece, a cousin, some friends, who are in the rubble,” said Rodolfo Espinal as he waited for information on his loved ones.
About 370 rescue personnel combed mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin sheets for survivors.
Also among the dead were the former Major League Baseball players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco. Dotel, who was 51, was rescued alive but later died of his injuries, local media reported.
Local media said there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when the roof collapsed at about 12.44am on Tuesday. The club had capacity for about 1,700 people.
Pérez was on stage when there was a blackout and the roof came crashing down, according to witnesses. Pérez’s daughter Zulinka told reporters she managed to escape after the roof collapsed but he did not.
The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said the governor of the Monte Cristi municipality, Nelsy Cruz, was also killed. Abinader declared three days of national mourning.
By early Wednesday, the preliminary death toll had reached 98, said Juan Manuel Méndez, the director of the Emergency Operations Center. “No people have been found alive since 3pm,” Méndez said in his latest update.
He said earlier: “As long as there is hope for life, all authorities will be working to recover or rescue these people.”
Iris Peña, who had attended the show, told SIN television how she escaped with her son. “At one point, dirt started falling like dust into the drink on the table,” she said. “A stone fell and cracked the table where we were, and we got out. The impact was so strong, as if it had been a tsunami or an earthquake.”
Dozens of family members flocked to hospitals for news. “We are desperate,” Regina del Rosa, whose sister was at the concert, told SIN. “They are not giving us news, they are not telling us anything.”
Helicopter images revealed a large hole where the club’s roof once was. A crane was helping to lift some of the heavier rubble as men in hard hats dug through the debris. Authorities issued a call for Dominicans to donate blood.
Artists paid tribute to Pérez on social media. “The friend and idol of our genre has left us,” Wilfrido Vargas wrote. The Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañón wrote: “Maestro, what a great pain he leaves us.”
The Instagram page of the Jet Set club says it has been in operation for more than 50 years, with shows every Monday until the early hours. Its last post before Monday’s event invited fans to come and “enjoy his [Pérez’s] greatest hits and dance in the country’s best nightclub”.
On Tuesday, the club issued a statement saying it was working “fully and transparently” with authorities.
The Jet Set roof collapse is one of the biggest tragedies the Caribbean nation has faced in recent years. In 2023, about 40 people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion linked to a plastics company in San Cristóbal, near Santo Domingo. In 2005, more than 130 prisoners in the east of the country died in a fire caused by a fight between inmates.
Tourism generates about 15% of GDP in the country, with millions of annual visitors attracted by its music, nightlife, beaches and the colonial architecture of the capital.
