Dominican Republic rescue operation turns to recovery mission

by Mick the Ram

Hopes of rescuing any more survivors from under the rubble of the collapsed Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo have diminished to the point that the operation is now focused on recovering bodies.

Nobody has been pulled out alive in more than 36 hours from the iconic venue in the Dominican Republic’s capital city and the official total of 184 dead is expected to rise still further, as more victims are located.

Emergency workers have demolished one of the walls of the club to be better able to reach those still buried, although the exact number of people inside the club attending a concert by merengue singer Rubby Pérez when the roof inexplicably collapsed is still unknown, it is however estimated to be somewhere between 500 and 1,000.

The hugely popular Pérez was sadly one of those who lost his life, along with former Major League Baseball player Octavio Dotel, and a provincial governor, whilst over 200 people received varying levels of injury.

The venue was packed with musicians, professional athletes and government officials when dust started falling from the ceiling, followed almost immediately by a total collapse of the roof the cause of which is as of yet not clear.

Jet Set had previously a cinema, but had been turned into a music venue and had been open for more than 50 years; it was one of the country’s most famous night spots.

President Luis Abinader declared three days of national mourning following the disaster.

Collapse occurred in an instant

When tragedy struck, the band were performing on stage with hundreds enjoying the moment. Suddenly several people pointed towards something falling at the back of the Jet Set club, followed by pendant lights suspended from the ceiling starting to collapse.

Before most could take evasive action the entire roof overhead collapsed on top of the crowd and stage.

Daughter’s lucky escape

Among the fortunate ones to escape was Pérez’s daughter Zulinka, who is a backing singer in his merengue band. She described how she had been on stage and had been saved by her husband, who shielded her with his body when the roof caved in.

Her 69-year-old father remained trapped for several hours having survived the collapse, even managing to guide emergency workers to his location by his singing, but around 16 hours later he was pronounced dead at the scene with rescuers unable to free him.

Major sportsmen amongst the dead

Octavio Dotel, a former Major League Baseball pitcher who won a world championship with the St Louis Cardinals and played for 13 teams in a 15-year career, is also among those who died. He was pulled from the debris alive, but lost his fight for life on the way to hospital.

Another former MLB player, Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera, 44, who previously played for the Washington Nationals and spent eight years as a professional player in Japan, was also killed.

Over 50 years old

Jet Set club and restaurant opened in 1973 and underwent renovations in 2010 and 2015, before being struck by lightning in 2023.

Carlos Mendoza Díaz, president of the Dominican Association of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors, confirmed as much when he released a statement saying that the Jet Set building was decades old and had recently been damaged.

“We have gathered information that it was not only a structure over 50 years old, built for a movie theatre and later converted into a nightclub, and obviously these are different safety parameters, but also it is known that a fire occurred a few years ago, and perhaps the combination of these events could have caused the collapse.”