SANTO DOMINGO: A merengue icon, a baseball star and others killed when a cement roof collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic were buried Thursday, as authorities called off the search for bodies with the death toll at 221.
Mourners clad in black and white streamed into Santo Domingo’s National Theater, where the body of singer Rubby Pérez lay inside a closed coffin. Pérez had been performing on stage at the packed Jet Set club early Tuesday when dust began falling from the ceiling and, seconds later, the roof caved.
President Luis Abinader and first lady Raquel Arbaje arrived at the theater and stood beside Pérez’s coffin for several minutes. Some mourners doubled over in tears as a recording of Pérez singing the national anthem played. Renowned Dominican musician Juan Luis Guerra was among those gathered to pay their respects.
Pérez, 69, had turned to music after a car accident left him unable to pursue his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. He was known for hits including “Volveré,” which he sang with Wilfrido Vargas’s orchestra, and “Buscando tus besos” as a solo artist.
After a five-hour memorial, mourners released dozens of white balloons outside the theater and spontaneously sang “Volveré” in unison. One woman put her hand over her heart and patted it as she cried.
At the cemetery, Zulinka Pérez, one of his daughters, said: “I knew he was loved but I never imagined this.”
Just blocks from the memorial for Pérez, heavy equipment began withdrawing from the site where Jet Set once stood and rescue crews packed up their equipment.
Meanwhile, a group of prosecutors arrived.
It is still unclear what caused the roof to collapse or when the building was last inspected. The government has said it will launch a thorough investigation, and the club’s owners have said they are cooperating with authorities. Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations, broke down as he addressed reporters.
“Thank you, God, because today we accomplished the most difficult task I’ve had in 20 years,” he said, moving the microphone away from his face as he cried. Other officials patted him on the back as he continued, “Please forgive me,” before passing the microphone to an army official.
Officials said 189 people were rescued alive from the rubble. More than 200 were injured, with 23 of them still hospitalized, including eight in critical condition. Many people have been anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones, growing frustrated with the drip-drip of information provided by hospitals and the country’s forensic institute.