The death toll from the roof collapse at a popular nightclub in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, has risen to 221. Authorities said, search and recovery efforts have ended.
The Dominican government has approved creating a team of national and international experts to clarify the causes of the roof collapse at the popular venue. The incident occurred on Tuesday night during a live performance by renowned merengue singer Rubby Perez.
The 69-year-old artist was among those found dead in the collapsed venue. Hundreds of people were inside the club at the time of the collapse. Several politicians, athletes, and other prominent figures were attending the concert.
Both Carwin and his mother, who had been standing near the stage, were struck on the head by pieces of falling ceiling, but were lucky to avoid serious injury. Rubby Perez was among those killed.
In the chaos that quickly unfolded, Carwin managed to find a door through which he and his mother escaped outside. But his friend Jessica and her sister were still in the club. Desperate to find them, he decided to go back inside.
Inside the club, Carwin desperately shouted Jessica’s name but no one answered. He says he felt powerless to help those who had become trapped under the debris.
“The stones were huge. I felt useless.” Carwin says he then repeatedly went out of the building, where he’d try to call paramedics, then return inside to shout his friend’s name and call her phone.
“After that, the calls stopped going through.
Dominican Republic rescue crews continued searching the rubble for survivors Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The roof of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed without warning early Tuesday morning during a concert.
Memorials were taking place Thursday for a merengue star and others killed when a cement roof collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic, as the number of dead surged to 221 and crews searched for more bodies under the rubble.
Mourners clad in black and white streamed into Santo Domingo’s National Theater, where the body of Rubby Pérez lay inside a closed coffin. Pérez had been performing on stage at the Jet Set club early Tuesday when the roof fell in.