Photo: The late Rubby Perez | By N’Dea Nancy Bragg, USA Today | At least 44 people are dead as the death toll continues to rise after the roof of a nightclub in the Dominican Republic collapsed, officials said Tuesday. More than 146 people were taken to hospitals via ambulance after the incident at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, according to an Instagram post from the national police. Search and rescue operations to find people in the rubble are still underway in the National District on Tuesday morning, Juan Manuel Méndez, the director of the Emergency Operations Center, told reporters.
Méndez did not say how many people are believed to have been inside the nightclub, which is located near the coast.
“The loss of life leaves us in a state of profound pain and dismay,” said a statement from Jet Set. “In this difficult moment, our prayers are with each of the affected families. We share their pain as if it were our own, because we are also in mourning.”
Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez performed at the club Monday night, according to Instagram posts from the club. The singer’s manager, Enrique Paulino, told reporters at the scene that the roof collapsed around 1 a.m., almost an hour after the performance began, and the group’s saxophonist was killed, The Associated Press reported. USA TODAY has reached out to Paulino for comment.
Pérez’s brother is a former Major League Baseball player and other former players were in the crowd before the collapse, according to sports agent Paul Kinzer. “It’s where all the players go, all the big acts go,” Kinzer told USA TODAY of Jet Set.
President Luis Abinader traveled to the site Tuesday to supervise the rescue efforts and offer his condolences to the victims, footage shared by police shows. Abinader said the dead included Nelsy Cruz, sister of former MLB player Nelson Cruz and governor of the northern Monte Cristi province. Nelson Cruz said on social media that the remains of his sister will be displayed at the Provincial Government of Montecristi and a funeral will be held later Tuesday.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:
At least 44 dead after roof collapse in Dominican Republic night club
https://www.yahoo.com/news/least-15-dead-100-hospitalized-134921924.html
Contributing: Steve Gardner, USA TODAY; Reuters
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Famed Singer Dead at 69 Following Dominican Roof Collapse
By Declan Gallagher, Men’s Journal
Famed Dominican singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed on Tuesday night, has died at 69. The tragic news was first reported by Rolling Stone and Listín Diario and later confirmed to People by Pérez’s manager, Enrique Paulino.
Pérez was a noted musician who began his career as the lead vocalist in Wilfrido Vargas’ orchestra. After going solo, he released 13 albums including Buscando Tus Besos (1987) and, most recently, Hecho Esta (2022). He is best remembered for his tracks “Volveré” (1996) and “Enamorado de Ella” (2021), the latter of which topped at No. 29 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart. Pérez released his final single, “No Voy a Llorar,” on Valentine’s Day of this year.
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Despair as Death Toll From Dominican Republic Nightclub Collapse Rises
By Vanessa Buschschuter, BBC News
Hundreds of rescue workers in the Dominican Republic continue to search for survivors of a roof collapse at a nightclub in the capital, Santo Domingo.
At least 124 people died and more than 150 were injured in the incident, which happened just before 01:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Tuesday at the Jet Set club, officials said.
Head of Emergency Operations Juan Manuel Méndez estimated that his team had “24 to 36 hours left” to try to find survivors under the rubble.
Hundreds of guests were inside the popular venue attending a concert by merengue singer Rubby Pérez.
Pérez, as well as former Major League Baseball players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco, and a provincial governor are among those who have been confirmed dead.
Mobile phone footage recorded inside the club, which has been verified by the BBC, shows Pérez on stage singing while the man recording can be heard talking.
“Something fell from the ceiling” the man recording says, while his finger can be seen pointing towards the roof.
In the footage, Pérez can be seen looking towards the area pointed out by the man.
Less than 30 seconds later, a noise can be heard and the recording goes black while a woman is heard shouting “Dad, what’s happened to you?”
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Among them was Pérez’s daughter Zulinka, who is a backing singer in his merengue band.
She described how she had been on stage, singing with her father when the tragedy unfolded.
Zulinka said she was saved by her husband, who shielded her with his body when the roof collapsed, telling her that she had to make it out “to be there for our son”.
She managed to crawl out from under the rubble and her husband also made it out alive.
Her 69-year-old father, however, remained trapped for hours.
According to Zulinka, he survived the collapse and managed to guide emergency workers to his location.
“They found him singing, he started to sing so they would hear him,” she told local media.
But around 17:00 local time, more than 16 hours after the tragedy had occurred, Zulinka was informed by rescue workers at the scene that her father had died before they could free him.
His manager later confirmed his death.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgpp9z054go
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It’s unclear how often government officials inspect buildings in the Dominican Republic or when Jet Set was last inspected.
A Ministry of Public Works spokesperson referred The Associated Press to the mayor’s office for comment. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office could not be reached.
Jet Set’s owners, who issued a statement saying they were cooperating with authorities, were also not reachable for comment.
https://apnews.com/article/dominican-republic-club-roof-collapsed-jet-set-8ff771f605ca3e1e575263677e384cda
[COMBO Editor’s note: No word as to whether or not there was a roof-top bar that may have been overcrowded causing the roof to collapse. Also, since there is no snow in the DR, that would not have been a cause. A video on Facebook shows the lighting truss collapsing on the band.]
Photo: Rubby Perez | https://www.facebook.com/rubbyperezmusic