What we know about the Dominican nightclub disaster

Santo Domingo: The Dominican Republic is in mourning after the roof of a popular nightclub in the capital Santo Domingo collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday, killing at least 124 people and injuring over 150 others.

Here is what we know about the worst tragedy in the Caribbean nation in two decades.

The roof of the club called Jet Set collapsed early Tuesday at 44 minutes after midnight (0444 GMT).

Videos shared on social media showed the club suddenly plunging into darkness while popular merengue singer Rubby Perez was performing on stage. The structure caved in on hundreds of people.

Some 370 rescuers and 150 ambulances were deployed in the search for survivors. 

The last person rescued alive was found on Tuesday afternoon, around 14 hours after the roof collapsed. 

In a statement the nightclub said it was working with authorities to establish what happened.

Aerial images of the disaster site showed a scene akin to that of a earthquake, with a huge hole where the roof of the club had been.

It is not clear how many people were in Jet Set when the roof caved in. 

Local media said there were between 500 and 1,000 people inside. The club has capacity for about 1,700 people.

Perez, whose full name is Roberto Antonio Perez Herrera, 69, was the headline act at the nightclub which for years had attracted crowds at its weekly "Jet Set Mondays" gigs.

He died in the collapse.

The singer, known for hits such as "Volvere" and "Enamorado de Ella",  was dubbed the "greatest voice of merengue," a Caribbean genre characterized by fast, danceable beats.

His former band leader Wilfrido Vargas said he himself was "devastated."

"The friend and idol of our genre has just left us," he wrote.

"Maestro, what a great pain you leave us," Puerto Rican Grammy-winning singer Olga Tanon wrote on social media.

Two Dominican baseball stars and a politician were also killed.

Octavio Dotel, a 51-year-old pitcher, who played Major League Baseball from 1999 to 2013 and won the World Series with the St Louis Cardinals in 2011, was rescued alive on Tuesday but later died of his injuries.

Tony Blanco, 45, who also played baseball in the United States as well as Japan, was also killed, as was the governor of northern Monte Cristi province, Nelsy Cruz.

Dozens of relatives and friends gathered outside the club as well as hospitals and the city morgue to await news of their loved ones.

Antonio Hernandez told AFP on Wednesday he was losing hope of finding his son, who worked at Jet Set, as the hours passed and no one was rescued alive.

President Luis Abinader declared three days of national mourning.

The disaster is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of the Dominican Republic, a major tourism destination which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

In 2023, about 40 people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion linked to a plastics company in San Cristobal, near Santo Domingo.

In 2005, a fire at a prison in Higuey in the east of the Caribbean nation cost the lives of 136 prisoners.