Death toll from Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse climbs to 218 - VIDEO/UPDATED
The death toll after a roof collapsed at a crowded nightclub in the Dominican Republic has climbed to 218, the head of rescue operations said Thursday, in the Caribbean nation's worst disaster in decades.
"Unfortunately and with regret, (there are) 218 people dead as preliminary data," Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Emergency Operations Center (COE), told journalists, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
He said that 189 people had been "rescued alive" since the collapse.
More than 500 people were injured in the incident. Up to 1,000 people could have been inside the club at the time of the accident, local media has reported, though no official figure has yet been given.
"Our rescue workers are already concluding the search," Mendez said.
"We are saddened by this tragedy that has so saddened the Dominican people."
Authorities ruled out the possibility of finding any more survivors late Wednesday.
The death toll from the roof collapse at a nightclub in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, has risen to 184, Dominican authorities confirmed.
Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Emergency Operations Center, said no additional survivors have been rescued since 3:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on April 8, News.Az reports, citing Xinhua.
Nelsy Milagros Cruz, governor of Monte Cristi province, is among those killed, according to local authorities.
Dominican President Luis Abinader has declared three days of national mourning starting April 8 to honor the victims.
Emergency services have set up a hotline to help families obtain information about the injured and the missing. Investigation is under way to determine the cause of the collapse.
The death toll from the nightclub roof collapse on Tuesday in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, has climbed to 113, officials announced on Wednesday.
More than 155 people were injured as a result of the roof collapse, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the country's Emergency Operations Center, said in a Wednesday press conference that the Dominican navy and fire service were involved in rescue efforts.
The death toll from the nightclub roof collapse on Tuesday in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, has climbed to 98, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
According to the officials, more than 150 people were injured as a result of the accident, News.Az reports, citing BBC.
At least 79 people have been killed and more than 150 injured after a roof collapsed at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo, officials have said.
A provincial governor and former Major League Baseball pitcher Octavio Dotel were among the victims. Dotel, 51, died on the way to hospital after being pulled from the debris, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday at a concert by popular merengue singer Rubby Pérez at the Jet Set nightclub. He was reported among those trapped in the rubble.
Hundreds of people were inside the venue and some 400 rescuers are still searching for survivors. There are fears the death toll will rise further.
A catastrophic roof collapse at an iconic nightclub in the Dominican Republic’s capital, Santo Domingo, has left at least 58 people dead including a provincial governor and former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Octavio Dotel.
At least 160 other people were injured and some 400 emergency crews were still working to pull survivors from the rubble as families of the victims gathered at the site searching for their loved ones, authorities said on Tuesday, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.
Juan Manuel Mendez, head of the Dominican Republic’s emergency operations centre, said that efforts to rescue those trapped under the debris were continuing, though the exact number of people inside the Jet Set nightclub at the time of the collapse remained unclear.
Local media reported there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when disaster struck in the early hours of Tuesday.
The roof collapse happened during a concert attended by politicians, athletes and other prominent figures.
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.
At least 15 people are dead after the roof of a Santo Domingo nightclub collapsed early Tuesday, according to Dominican Republic police.
It’s not clear what caused the roof of the Jet Set nightclub, a renowned club in the National District, to collapse, News.Az reports, citing NBC News.
The disaster unfolded during a performance by merengue singer Rubby Perez, local media reported.
There were 101 ambulance transfers to different hospitals and search and rescue efforts are underway, Juan Manuel Mendez, the nation’s director of Emergency Management Operations, said in an update on Instagram around 8 a.m. The number of those hospitalized may be higher as multiple people may be transferred by an ambulance at a time.
"We are still working, searching for people in the rubble. We presume that many of them are still alive, that’s why the authorities here with their teams will not stop until we find the last person in that rubble," Mendez said in a video shared on the Dominican Republic National Police Instagram page.
"Our city wakes up to a terrible tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub. My deepest sympathy goes out to the families still waiting for news of their loved ones," Santo Domingo Mayor Carolina Mejía de Garrigó wrote on X Tuesday morning.
She said that the city’s national disaster response committee is active.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
At least 12 people have been confirmed dead after a ceiling collapsed at a nightclub during a concert in the Dominican Republic.
Authorities scrambled to the scene to desperately carry out rescue efforts to save those still alive underneath the rubble in Jet Set nightclub, situated in the neighbourhood of El Portal, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Similar news
