The death toll from the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has risen to at least 66, and 160 more were injured, authorities said Tuesday evening.
Among the dead are several high-profile figures, including a provincial governor and two former professional baseball players, as the country reels from one of its deadliest recent tragedies.
Nelsy Cruz, governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi and sister of Major League Baseball star Nelson Cruz, was among the victims. According to First Lady Raquel Arbaje, Cruz made a desperate call to Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader at 12:49 a.m., saying she was trapped beneath the rubble. She later died at the hospital.
The Dominican Republic’s Professional Baseball League confirmed the deaths of two well-known players—former MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel and Dominican slugger Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera. Dotel had initially been pulled from the debris alive and transported to a hospital, but succumbed to his injuries later in the day.
Rescue efforts continued late Tuesday, with authorities holding out hope for additional survivors. “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,” said Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations.
Search crews worked tirelessly nearly 12 hours after the collapse, using concrete saws and makeshift wooden planks to lift debris and search for signs of life. Méndez said crews were focusing on three specific areas where they had heard noises that could indicate trapped survivors.
Merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing at the time of the collapse, remains unaccounted for. Conflicting reports initially suggested he had been rescued, but Méndez later clarified that Pérez had not yet been located. Other reports, including one from BBC, state that the singer had died in the collapse. Pérez’s manager, Enrique Paulino—his shirt stained with blood—confirmed that the band’s saxophonist had been killed when the roof came down around an hour into their set.
President Abinader expressed his condolences and assured the public that rescue efforts would not slow. “We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub. We have been following the incident minute by minute since it occurred,” he wrote on X. “We have faith in God that we will rescue even more people alive.”
As of Tuesday evening, the nation mourns not only the loss of dozens of lives but also the deaths of some of its most respected public figures—making this one of the deadliest and most emotionally devastating disasters in recent Dominican history.
