The record rises to 218 dead – Liberation
The already tragic assessment of The collapse of the Jet Set disco roof in the Dominican Republic Schedule again this Thursday, April 10, with at least 218 dead, announced the head of rescue operations. « Unfortunately, and I’m sorry, (there are) 218 people who died according to the preliminary data », said to the press the director of the Center for Emergency Operations (COE), Juan Manuel Méndez, adding that 189 people had been « Speed » Since the collapse of the Jet Set disco Tuesday morning.
The results had already jumped the day before evening from 124 to 184 dead, almost 48 hours after the drama, to become the worst catastrophe of the century in the Caribbean country. The drama now exceeds, in terms of human losses, the fire in 2005 of a prison in Higuey (East) which had cost the life of 136 detainees.
« We will be here until we recover alive the people who could be alive or that we recover the corpses that could be in these rubble. We will stay the time required. We will not give up this site as long as a close close to a victim who is not in the morgue or the hospital ”, Specified Juan Manuel Mendez while there is hardly any hope of finding survivors. No living person has been out of the rubble since Tuesday at 3 p.m. local time, he explained Mr. Mendez, confirming the figure of more than 150 injured.
Aerial images show a gaping hole in place of the roof of the establishment which collapsed overnight Monday to Tuesday when between 500 and 1,000 people attended a concert by the star of the Merengue Rubby Perez, too.
Mechanical shovels and cranes are at work to clear the interlacing of concrete and scrap blocks. About 300 rescuers are on the scene, supported by teams from Israel and Puerto Rico arrived in reinforcements. The authorities did not give an assessment of missing persons. Dozens of relatives always agglutinate around the nightclub, hospitals and the morgue while waiting for news or the identification of their loved ones.
Rubby Perez’s concert had attracted many fans and celebrities. In a video broadcast on social networks, we can see the roof collapse while the singer is on stage. Other videos on social networks show employees sweeping the establishment before the drama to remove stones and small debris fallen from the ceiling. Rubby Perez’s body has been exhumed from the rubble, the authorities confirmed. Many artists paid tribute to him on social networks. He must be buried Thursday after a tribute. The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, decreed three days of national mourning in tribute to the victims of the tragedy.
Update at 1:40 p.m. with the new assessment.
