The death toll after a ceiling collapsed in a nightclub full of people in the Dominican Republic has risen to 218, the head of rescue operations in the worst disaster of the Caribbean nation in decades said Thursday.
Rescuers had worked frantically since the collapse in the early hours of Tuesday to dig up the survivors of the debris of the popular Jet Set Club in Santo Domingo.
Among the dead were the famous merengue singer, Rubby Pérez, who acted on stage when the roof collapsed, as well as two former major league baseball players and a local politician.
“Unfortunately and with regret, [there are] 218 people dead as preliminary data, “said Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Emergency Operations Center (COE).
More than 500 people were injured in the incident. Up to 1,000 people could have been within the club at the time of the accident, local media reported, although official figures have not yet occurred.
“Our rescue workers are already concluding the search,” Méndez said. “This tragedy saddens us that has saddened the Dominican people.”
The authorities ruled out the possibility of finding more survivors on Wednesday night.
The government said it will open an investigation into the disaster as soon as rescue operations have been completed.
More than 300 rescue workers, aided by tracker dogs, had spent two days reviewing mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin leaves, supported by firefighters from Puerto Rico and Israel.
The aerial images of the site showed a scene that resembled the sequelae of an earthquake, with an open hole where the club’s roof had been, an accessory of the nightlife of Santo Domingo for half a century.
A video posted on social networks showed that the place suddenly immersed himself in the dark while Pérez was singing. Tributes to the singer, known for successes such as ‘Return’ and ‘In love with her’, it is poured from all of Latin America.
Meanwhile, the world of baseball cried the death of Octavio Dotel, a 51 -year -old baseball pitcher who won the World Series with the San Luis cardinals in 2011, and Tony Blanco, 45, who also played in the United States.
President Luis Abinader declared three days of national mourning.
Family members still desperately expected news from their loved ones outside the club in ruins, in hospitals and the local morgue on Wednesday.
Antonio Hernández, whose son worked at the Jet Set nightclub, said AFP On Wednesday, his hopes of finding his living son had begun to fade while observing more and more bodies, but did not recover on the survivors.
The remains in a body bag looked like his son, said Hernández, but did not investigate. “I don’t have the stomach to discover the worst yet.”
