Burials begin for victims in the Dominican nightclub collapse that killed 221 : NPR

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — A merengue icon, a baseball star and others killed when a cement roof collapsed at a well-liked nightclub within the Dominican Republic have been buried Thursday, as authorities known as off the seek for our bodies with the demise toll at 221.

Mourners clad in black and white streamed into Santo Domingo’s Nationwide Theater, the place the physique of singer Rubby Pérez lay inside a closed coffin. Pérez had been acting on stage on the packed Jet Set membership early Tuesday when mud started falling from the ceiling and, seconds later, the roof caved.

President Luis Abinader and first woman Raquel Arbaje arrived on the theater and stood beside Pérez’s coffin for a number of minutes. Some mourners doubled over in tears as a recording of Pérez singing the nationwide anthem performed. Famend Dominican musician Juan Luis Guerra was amongst these gathered to pay their respects.

Pérez, 69, had turned to music after a automobile accident left him unable to pursue his dream of changing into knowledgeable baseball participant. He was recognized for hits together with “Volveré,” which he sang with Wilfrido Vargas’s orchestra, and “Buscando tus besos” as a solo artist.

After a five-hour memorial, mourners launched dozens of white balloons exterior the theater and spontaneously sang “Volveré” in unison. One lady put her hand over her coronary heart and patted it as she cried.

On the cemetery, Zulinka Pérez, one among his daughters, stated: “I knew he was beloved however I by no means imagined this.”

The seek for solutions

Simply blocks from the memorial for Pérez, heavy tools started withdrawing from the positioning the place Jet Set as soon as stood and rescue crews packed up their tools.

In the meantime, a bunch of prosecutors arrived.

It’s nonetheless unclear what precipitated the roof to break down or when the constructing was final inspected. The federal government has stated it would launch a radical investigation, and the membership’s homeowners have stated they’re cooperating with authorities.

Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Middle of Emergency Operations, broke down as he addressed reporters.

“Thanks, God, as a result of at this time we achieved essentially the most tough process I’ve had in 20 years,” he stated, shifting the microphone away from his face as he cried. Different officers patted him on the again as he continued, “Please forgive me,” earlier than passing the microphone to a military official.

Rescue employees stand on the Jet Set nightclub days after its roof collapsed, killing greater than 200 individuals in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Thursday.

Matias Delacroix/AP

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Matias Delacroix/AP

Officers stated 189 individuals have been rescued alive from the rubble. Greater than 200 have been injured, with 23 of them nonetheless hospitalized, together with eight in crucial situation.

“If the trauma is simply too nice, there’s not a whole lot of time” left to avoid wasting sufferers in that situation, stated Well being Minister Víctor Atallah. He and different docs stated a number of the injured suffered fractures to the cranium, femur and pelvis.

Exasperated households wait

Many individuals have been anxiously ready for information of their family members, rising pissed off with the drip-drip of data offered by hospitals and the nation’s forensic institute.

At the least 146 our bodies have been recognized, authorities stated Thursday.

María Luisa Taveras advised TV station Noticias SIN that she was in search of her sister.

“We’ve got gone in every single place they’ve advised us,” she stated, her voice breaking.

Taveras stated the household has unfold out, with a relative stationed at every hospital and on the Nationwide Institute of Forensic Pathology. Dozens of individuals waited on the institute Thursday, sporting face masks and complaining in regards to the odor as they demanded the discharge of their family members’ our bodies.

“The odor is insufferable,” stated Wendy Sosa, who has been ready since Wednesday morning for the physique of her cousin, 61-year-old Nilka Curiel González. Sosa advised The Related Press by telephone that the state of affairs there was “chaotic,” and that officers had arrange a refrigerated container to deal with the quantity of our bodies being delivered.

She wept as she described her cousin as gracious, genuine, and “very empathetic.”

‘Life is however a breath’

Victims recognized up to now embrace former MLB gamers Octavio Dotel and Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera; and Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi whose brother is seven-time Main League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz.

An individual is comforted earlier than figuring out the physique of a member of the family who died on the Jet Set nightclub, days after its roof collapsed throughout a live performance and killed greater than 200 individuals, exterior the Nationwide Institute of Forensic Pathology in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Thursday.

Matias Delacroix/AP

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Matias Delacroix/AP

Dotel was buried Thursday in Santo Domingo. Tons of of individuals attended his wake on Wednesday, together with Corridor of Famer David Ortiz, previously of the Boston Pink Sox. Ortiz stated the quantity of people that attended Dotel’s wake spoke volumes.

“He was an individual whom everybody beloved,” Ortiz advised reporters. “It’s totally onerous, very onerous, actually.”

MLB Corridor of Famer Pedro Martínez attended one other wake Thursday.

“There aren’t any phrases to explain the ache we’re all feeling,” stated Martínez, including that he knew greater than 50 of those that died. “Life is however a breath.”

Additionally killed was a retired United Nations official; saxophonist Luis Solís, who was taking part in onstage when the roof fell; New York-based dressmaker Martín Polanco; the son and daughter-in-law of the minister of public works; the brother of the vice minister of the Ministry of Youth; and three staff of Grupo Widespread, a monetary companies firm, together with the president of AFP Widespread Financial institution and his spouse.

Greater than 20 victims got here from Haina, Rubby Pérez’s hometown, simply southwest of Santo Domingo.

The governor held a communal wake, organising 10 stands for coffins beneath a banner that learn: “Haina bids farewell to her beloved youngsters with immense sorrow.”

Among the many mourners was Juancho Guillén, who misplaced his spouse three months in the past and whose brother, sister and brother-in-law died at Jet Set.

“This household is in shock, is devastated,” he advised Noticias SIN. “We’re virtually useless too.”