SANTO DOMINGO: Rescue workers raced on Wednesday to find any remaining survivors under the rubble of a Dominican Republic nightclub, a day after the roof collapsed, killing at least 124 people in the country’s worst disaster in two decades.

The death toll continued to climb as emergency crews pulled more bodies from the ruins of the Jet Set club in the capital Santo Domingo. Juan Manuel Mendez, director of Emergency Operations, said rescue crews had “24 to 36 hours” of work left to find survivors of the disaster, which left at least 155 people injured.

Renowned Dominican merengue singer Rubby Perez was performing on stage when the roof collapsed with a thunderous noise on hundreds of revellers. Perez was among a handful of celebrities killed in the tragedy, along with two former Major League Baseball players, Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco.

Dozens of relatives gathered outside the club as well as at hospitals and the city morgue for news of their loved ones as forensic teams continued to identify the dead.

Mercedes Lopez was looking for her son in a tent next to the nightclub where bodies retrieved from the rubble were being brought.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2025