At least 79 people, including a politician and a Major League Baseball player, died in an early-morning roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, AFP reported.
A video recorded just before the catastrophe depicts the final minutes before the Jet Set nightclub’s roof collapsed.
🚨🇩🇴13 DEAD, 93 INJURED IN NIGHTCLUB ROOF COLLAPSE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
This comes after the roof of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, collapsed earlier this morning.
The national police confirmed the death toll and said search and rescue… pic.twitter.com/yAdkTqw8yX
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 8, 2025
The footage captures a lively dance performance and a cheering audience, unaware of the impending collapse. In a matter of time, it turned into chaos as the roof collapsed, trapping hundreds of people inside.
Rubby Perez, a well-known Dominican merengue musician, was among those affected by the tragedy when the ceiling collapsed at the nightclub just after midnight as he was performing.
After a number of Dominican media outlets reported that Perez had been discovered dead, the Emergency Operations Center’s director, Juan Manuel Mendez, stated that forensic specialists had “not confirmed that they found the body”, AFP reported.
Octavio Dotel, a 51-year-old former Major League Baseball pitcher who won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, was one of the deceased.
According to local media, he was saved alive but later passed away from his wounds while being taken to the hospital.
Nelsy Cruz, the sister of Major League Baseball player Nelson Cruz and the governor of Monte Cristi province, was one of the casualties. Around midnight on the call, she told President Luis Abinader that she was trapped under the collapsed roof.
She later died at the hospital, according to First Lady Raquel Abraje, who reported to journalists, “This is too great a tragedy.”
Approximately 500 to 1,000 individuals were inside the club when the tragedy occurred, according to local media. The club can accommodate roughly 1,000 people standing and 700 people seated.
What Emergency Operations Center’s Director Said?
Juan Manuel Mndez, who leads the country’s Centre of Emergency Operations, said, “We presume that many of them are still alive, and that is why the authorities here will not give up until not a single person remains under that rubble.” He added that rescue workers were focusing on three parts of the nightclub where they believed people might still be alive.
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