Death toll rises to 136 in Dominican nightclub roof collapse

At least 136 people died Tuesday after the roof of a nightclub collapsed in the Dominican Republic during a concert by popular singer Rubby Perez, who is also among the dead.

Although rescue services are keeping up the search for survivors more than 24 hours after the incident, the chances of finding people alive in the rubble have dwindled significantly, authorities said.

"No people have been found alive since 3 p.m.," said the director of the Emergency Operations Center (COE), Juan Manuel Méndez, in the latest update on Tuesday, after midnight.

The "preliminary" death toll "rises to 113," Mendez said without specifying the number of injured. He spoke of 255 transfers to hospitals. He also thanked the work of some 370 rescue workers who provided services after the collapse of the roof at Jet Set, located in the Dominican capital.

However, the death toll later rose to 136, according to EFE.

National mourning in the DR

The president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, went to the site and declared three days of mourning, from yesterday, Tuesday, 8 April, until tomorrow, 10 April, according to decree 194-25.

Dozens of people crowded around the nightclub, as well as outside hospitals and the morgue, seeking news of relatives and loved ones. The authorities also set up blood banks to receive donations.

Among the hundred or so dead is Rubby Perez, one of the most emblematic voices of merengue with hits such as 'Volveré,' 'Enamorado de Ella' and 'Buscando tus besos.' The governor of the province of Monte Cristi, Nelsy Cruz, also lost her life in the accident, as did former Major League Baseball players Tony Blanco and Octavio Dotel, to whom their teams paid tribute.

Dotel was pulled alive from the wreckage, but died while being transported to a health center, according to the press.

Other details of the Jet Set accident

There is no official of the number of people who were attending the concert. Perez was singing at a venue called "Lunes de Jet Set," which featured local and international bands on a weekly basis.

The nightclub has capacity for 700 people at tables and about 1,000 standing. Channel SIN reported that that night there were 267 reservations, some with up to 10 people.

In the aerial images circulating of the disaster, the structure can be seen with a huge hole left by the collapsed roof.

It is one of the biggest tragedies in the history of the Dominican Republic, which received 11 million tourists in 2024. In 2023, 38 people died in an explosion in San Cristobal. Two decades earlier, in 2005, 136 inmates of a prison died in a fire.