The rescuers hastened to find survivors on Wednesday after the roof of a nightclub of the Dominican Republic collapsed during a concert by the popular singer Rubby Pérez, one of the more than 110 people killed in the disaster.
Rescue workers continued with the search effort, now limited more to the recovery bodies of the debris for a day after the ceiling gave.
The renowned Dominican singer of Merengue, Pérez, who acted in the Jet Set nightclub for hundreds of people when the roof collapsed shortly after midnight on Tuesday, was one of the murdered, said his manager.
The relatives of the club attendees gathered around the disaster site in the capital, Santo Domingo, while rescuers transported the injured to the hospital, and used a crane to eliminate the rubble.
“We have some friends here, a niece, a cousin, some friends, who are in the rubble,” Rodolfo Espinal told AFP On Tuesday, while waiting for information about their loved ones.
Some 300 rescue workers combed fallen brick mounds, steel bars and leaf leaves for survivors, supported by Puerto Rico and Israel personnel, Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Emergency Operations Center, he said Wednesday.
Also among the dead were the former baseball players of the Major Leagues Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco.
Dotel, who was 51 years old, was rescued alive but then died of his wounds, local media reported.
A black and white dotel photo and images of the Dominican flag was screened on the score on Citi Field in New York before Tuesday’s game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins.
“Paz to his soul,” wrote the Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic in separate social media publications that pay tribute to the two former players.
Local media said there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when the disaster hit around 12:44 am (9:44 am pkt) on Tuesday. The club has a capacity for approximately 1,700 people.
Pérez was on stage when there was a blackout and the roof collapsed, according to reports of eye witnesses. Pérez’s daughter, Zulinka, told journalists that she had escaped after the roof collapsed, but did not.
Also among the dead was the governor of the municipality of Monte Cristi, Nelsy Cruz, according to President Luis Abinader. Declared three days of national mourning.
The death toll had reached 113 on Wednesday morning, Méndez said of the emergency operations center. “People have not been found alive since 3:00 pm (Tuesday),” he said before.
‘We are desperate’
Iris Pena, a woman who had attended the program, told without television how she escaped with her son.
“At one time, the earth began to fall as dust on the drink on the table,” he said. “A stone fell and broke the table where we were, and we left,” he said. “The impact was as strong, as if it had been a tsunami or an earthquake.”
Dozens of family members went to hospitals to receive news.
“We are desperate,” said Regina del Rosa, whose sister was at the concert SIN. “They are not giving us news, they tell us nothing.”
The helicopter images revealed a large hole where the club’s roof was once.
The authorities have issued a call for Dominicans to donate blood.
‘Devastated’
The artists paid tribute to Rubby Pérez on social networks, with former colleague Wilfrido Vargas saying he was “devastated.” “The friend and idol of our genre has left us,” Vargas wrote.
“Teacher, what great pain leaves us,” wrote Puerto Rican singer Olga Tanon. The Instagram page of the Jet Set Club said it has been in operation for more than 50 years, with programs every Monday until the early hours.
His last publication before Monday invited fans to come and “enjoy their best hits and dance (de Pérez) in the best nightclub in the country.” The club issued a statement on Tuesday saying that it was working “in a complete and transparent way” with the authorities.
The collapse of the Jet Set was one of the greatest tragedies that the Caribbean nation and the main tourist destination have faced in recent years.
In 2023, around 40 people died and dozens injured in an explosion linked to a plastic company in San Cristóbal, near Santo Domingo.
And 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 percent of GDP in the country, with millions of annual visitors attracted to their music, nightlife, Caribbean beaches and the colonial architecture of the capital.
