44 dead in Dominican Republic nightclub roof collapse

SANTO DOMINGO: Rescuers raced to find survivors on Tuesday among the rubble of a Dominican Republic night club where at least 44 people died and dozens were hurt in an early-morning roof collapse.

Some 400 rescue personnel combed through the ruins as trapped people cried out for help from the debris of what was the Jet Set nightclub in the Caribbean nation´s capital Santo Domingo. Dozens of ambulances ferried the injured to hospital, as scores of people gathered clamoring for news of their missing loved ones, who included renowned Dominican merengue singer Rubby Perez.

Perez, 69, was on stage when there was a sudden blackout and the roof came crashing down, according to eyewitness reports. “It was sudden. I thought it was an earthquake, so I threw myself to the ground and covered my head,” Enrique Paulino, Perez´s manager, told reporters.

“One of our saxophonists is dead, we tried to get to the area where Rubby was but there was too much debris there,” he said. Perez´s daughter Zulinka told reporters she had managed to escape after the roof collapsed, but he did not. After many desperate hours without news, Zulinka later said she had confirmation that her father was “alive,” though injured and still trapped in the debris.