Nearly 100 people were killed after a roof collapsed at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic's capital, Santo Domingo, on Tuesday. About 155 people were also injured in the catastrophic incident at the Jet Set nightclub, where emergency crews were working frantically after nightfall to pull survivors from the rubble.
According to Juan Manuel Mendez, head of the Dominican Republic's emergency operations center, the exact number of people inside the club at the time of the collapse remained unclear. However, local media reported that there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when the disaster struck shortly at 12:44 am local time.
The club has a capacity of 700 people seated and about 1,000 people standing.
The deaths started at 15 and kept rising throughout Tuesday. By early Wednesday, the preliminary toll had reached 98, said Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Emergency Operations Center.
The victims included a popular singer, a provincial governor, and two former Major League Baseball players, authorities said.
Videos of the incident show that renowned Dominican merengue singer Rubby Perez was on stage, performing, when the roof caved in shortly after midnight. He was one of the victims, according to his manager and family members near the site.
58 KILLED in Jet Set nightclub roof collapse in Dominican Republic as death toll rises pic.twitter.com/C6hN7ZCh8C
— RT (@RT_com) April 8, 2025
"It was sudden. I thought it was an earthquake, so I threw myself to the ground and covered my head," Enrique Paulino, Perez's manager, told reporters.
"One of our saxophonists is dead. We tried to get to the area where Rubby was, but there was too much debris there," he said.
Perez's daughter, Zulinka, told reporters she had managed to escape after the roof collapsed, but he did not. She said she had confirmation that her father was "alive," though injured and still trapped.
Also among the dead were politicians, athletes and other prominent figures. Monte Cristi governor Nelsy Cruz, who was the sister of former baseball player Nelson Cruz, a seven-time MLB All-Star, was also among the victims, President Luis Abinader said.
Former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco also died in the collapse, local authorities confirmed. Fifty-one-year-old Dotel, who won a World Series in 2011 with the St Louis Cardinals, died en route to a local hospital after being pulled from the debris, a spokesman for the nation's sports ministry said.
Rescue Efforts Underway
More than 370 rescue personnel combed mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin sheets for survivors, while dozens of ambulances ferried the injured to the hospital. Helicopter images revealed a large hole where the club's roof once was.
🇩🇴 The death toll from a nightclub roof collapse in #SantoDomingo, Dominican Republic, has risen to 79. pic.twitter.com/9kxZF2q1Cn
— Hamdan News (@HamdanWahe57839) April 9, 2025
A crane was helping lift some of the heavier rubble as men in hard hats dug through the debris. Meanwhile, families of the victims gathered near the Jet Set nightclub seeking information about their loved ones.
"I still have family members that are still in the rubble, and we don't know what happened to them," Pedro Martinez, a 17-season Major League Baseball player, said in a video shared on his Instagram account in the evening.
President Abinader visited the scene and declared three days of national mourning.
The Instagram page of the Jet Set club said 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 (Perez'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 Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, received over 11 million visitors in 2024, according to the tourism ministry.
Tourism generates about 15 percent of GDP, with visitors attracted by its Caribbean beaches, music and nightlife, as well as the colonial architecture of Santo Domingo.
(With inputs from agencies)
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