A catastrophic roof collapse at an iconic nightclub in the Dominican Republic’s capital, Santo Domingo, has left at least 113 people dead, including a provincial governor and former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Octavio Dotel, according to reports.
More than 255 other people are injured and emergency crews are still working to find survivors amid the rubble as families of the victims gathered at the site searching for their loved ones, authorities said on Wednesday.
Efforts to rescue those trapped under the debris are continuing, though the exact number of people inside the Jet Set nightclub at the time of the collapse remains unclear, the director of the country’s Emergency Operations Center, Juan Manuel Mendez said.
Local media said the roof collapsed during a concert attended by politicians, athletes and other prominent figures. Between 500 and 1,000 people were reported to have been in the club when disaster struck in the early hours of Tuesday.
Among the victims was Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northern Monte Cristi province, President Luis Abinader said. Cruz is the sister of former baseball player Nelson Cruz, a seven-time MLB All-Star.
Former MLB pitcher Dotel died en route to a local hospital after being pulled from the debris, a spokesman for the nation’s Ministry of Sports said.
The Dominican Republic’s Professional Baseball League expressed “its sorrow over the death of former pitcher Octavio Dotel” and concluded, “Peace to his soul”.
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Dotel, 51, debuted for the New York Mets in 1999 and played until 2013 for more than a dozen teams, including the Houston Astros, Oakland A’s, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.
“Thinking about our people in the Dominican Republic,” Carlos Mendoza, the manager of the Mets, said in a news conference. “We have a lot of the Dominican community in the baseball world.”The cause of the roof collapse remains under investigation.
Iris Pena, a woman who had attended the concert, told the Dominican channel SIN how she escaped with her son.
“At one point, dirt started falling like dust into the drink on the table. I asked the security officers … whether the ground had shaken,” she said.
“A stone fell and cracked the table where we were, and we got out,” Pena recounted. “The impact was so strong, as if it had been a tsunami or an earthquake.
“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.”
Rescuers work at the site of the collapsed Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic [Reuters]
At the scene, meanwhile, helicopter images revealed a large hole where the club’s roof once was. A construction crane was helping to lift some of the heavier rubble as men in hard hats dug through the debris.The authorities have issued a call for Dominicans to donate blood.
“We are rescuing all the people we can save alive and recovering those bodies we find along the way. But we have focused on people we can rescue alive because we hear them asking for help,” Mendez said.
“The main objective is to save lives,” President Abinader said as he arrived at the scene.
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.
On Tuesday, the club issued a statement saying it had “collaborated fully and transparently with the authorities to help the victims and clarify what happened”.
The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, received more than 11 million visitors in 2024, according to its Ministry of Tourism.
Tourism generates about 15 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), with visitors attracted by the country’s Caribbean beaches, music and nightlife, as well as the colonial architecture of Santo Domingo.
“We continue clearing debris and searching for people,” said Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Emergency Operations Center, on Tuesday night. “We’re going to search tirelessly for people.”
At least 300 people were inside Jet Set nightclub, in the capital of Santo Domingo, when the roof collapsed around 1 a.m. during a performance of merengue artist Rubby Pérez and his orchestra, authorities said. Pérez’s whereabouts were unknown Tuesday evening amid fears he could be among those killed.
Families of the missing gathered at the scene and shared pictures of their loved ones Tuesday morning as dozens of ambulances rushed the injured to hospital.
The country’s Health Ministry increased the death toll from 66 to 79 people Tuesday evening, and efforts to find survivors are ongoing. At least 223 people were injured in the roof collapse, said the National Emergency System.
The cause of the collapse is not yet known.
Aerial footage from local news outlets on Tuesday morning showed the venue with a wide, gaping hole in the middle of the building where the audience would have been located during the performance.
One video shows the band performing while someone near the stage points out that something had fallen in the back of the Jet Set club. Moments later, pendant lights suspended from the ceiling start to collapse, along with the entire roof overhead. Screams and crashing sounds can be heard for a few seconds before the video goes dark.Former Major League Baseball player Octavio Dotel was among those killed, according to Méndez and Dotel’s foundation. He died on the way to the hospital after being rescued alive from the rubble, Méndez told CNN.
Dotel’s education academy, Colegio SabidurÃa y Baluarte, mourned him in a statement, saying he leaves “an indelible mark on all of us who had the privilege of knowing and working alongside him.”
Another former major leaguer, Tony Blanco, also died after the collapse, MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred and the Dominican Sports Ministry said.
“We share in their grief with their family, friends, and colleagues, and we offer our prayers for their eternal rest,” the ministry said of Blanco in a statement.
Also among the dead was Nelsy Cruz, governor of the Monte Cristi province, Dominican President Luis Abinader said. Cruz was related to MLB all-star Nelson Cruz, according a statement from his family mourning her death.
Meanwhile, the son of Public Works Minister Eduardo Estrella is among the missing, Méndez added.Personnel from at least 22 public institutions are at the site helping with response efforts, officials said.
Abinader has declared three days of mourning following the disaster. He traveled to the nightclub later Tuesday morning with his wife, First Lady Raquel Arbaje, to express their condolences to the victims.
“We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub,” Abinader wrote on X. “All rescue agencies have provided the necessary assistance and are working tirelessly in the rescue efforts. Our prayers are with the affected families.”
Personnel of Civil Defence and firefighters remove rubble from the Jet Set nightclub on Tuesday.
Carolina MejÃa de Garrigó, the city’s mayor, said Santo Domingo was waking “to a terrible tragedy,” offering her condolences to families “still waiting for news of their loved ones.”
The Jet Set nightclub is one of the Caribbean nation’s most famous venues, and its Monday night events are especially well attended.This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Avery Schmitz, Jose Alvarez, Pablo Antonio Garcia Escorihuela and Lex Harvey contributed to this report.
