At least 79 dead after roof collapses at Dominican Republic nightclub
At least 160 people were injured, with crews searching for potential survivors in the rubble of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo, said Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Centre of Emergency Operations.
"We continue clearing debris and searching for people," he said. "We're going to search tirelessly for people."
Rescue workers were prioritising three areas in the club, he said, adding: "We're hearing some sounds."
The cause of the roof collapse is not yet clear.
Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northern Montecristi province, is among those to have died.
Octavio Dotel, a former MLB pitcher who won a world championship with the St Louis Cardinals and played for 13 teams in a 15-year career, was also among the victims.
Dotel, 51, died en route to a local hospital after being pulled from the debris, a spokesman for the nation's sports ministry said
Meanwhile, the injured include Dominican singer Rubby Perez, who was performing when the roof collapsed.
His manager Enrique Paulino, whose shirt was spattered with blood, told reporters at the scene that the concert began shortly before midnight, with the roof collapsing almost an hour later, killing the group's saxophonist.
Mr Paulino said: "It happened so quickly. I managed to throw myself into a corner."
He added that he initially thought there had been an earthquake.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader wrote on X: "We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub. We have been following the incident minute by minute since it occurred. All relief agencies have provided the necessary assistance and are working tirelessly in the rescue efforts. Our prayers are with the affected families."
Mr Abinader arrived at the scene and hugged those looking for friends and family, some with tears streaming down their faces.
He did not speak to reporters.
An official with a megaphone stood outside the club imploring the large crowd, which had gathered to search for friends and relatives, to give ambulances space.
"You have to cooperate with authorities... please," he said.
"We are removing people."
At one hospital where the injured were taken, an official stood outside reading aloud the names of survivors as a crowd gathered around her and shouted out the names of their loved ones.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Feds charge 13 in scheme that targeted grandparents across the US
The average age of their hundreds of victims was 84, prosecutors said. "Their goal," according to Leah B. Foley, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, "was to trick our parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends into handing over their life savings on false pretenses. And they succeeded." Of the 13 people charged in federal court in Massachusetts, nine are in custody, according to the Department of Justice. Two of the suspected scammers are at large in the United States and two in the Dominican Republic, Christina Sterling, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said at a news conference on Aug. 12. Charges against the 13 include conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy, prosecutors said. The suspected scammers face potentially decades in prison if found guilty. At least one has already pleaded guilty. 'Ringleader' in custody In addition to the FBI, the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs participated in the investigation, as well as Dominican agencies, including the Dominican National Police. Dominican authorities said the arrests were the result of a two-year investigation. Among the nine in custody is Oscar Manuel Castanos Garcia, the chief operator of the call centers. Sterling, the U.S. Attorney's Office spokesperson, described him as a "ringleader" and said he was arrested on Aug. 12 in the Dominican Republic. Castanos Garcia, 33, is suspected of directing scammers to follow a script in their calls that would lead the victim to believe that their loved one was making a call from jail after a car accident and needed money to post bail, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He operated call centers out of residential homes in Santiago de los Caballeros and Puerto Plata. "I was granted a 5-minute phone call, and I called you because I know you can help me," a script shared by the Department of Justice reads. "Please, promise that you will keep this between us until I get out, I am ashamed about this." The script directed callers to hang up by telling the victim, "I love you." Callers obtained information about their victims through the dark web, according to a federal affidavit. Castanos Garcia and a few others were arrested in the Dominican Republic and are expected to be extradited. Money went towards 'luxury purchases' The grandparent fraud schemes depend on several operators playing key roles, from "openers" who make the initial call to older adults to "runners" who collect the cash from victims and launder it back to the Dominican Republic, according to Justice Department officials. Operators kept a "scoreboard" at call centers showing how much money each "opener" and "closer" pairing made, prosecutors said. The closer is responsible for making the second call to victims. In the Massachusetts case, operators posed as public defenders who told victims how much "bail money" they had to pay. Sometimes, call center operators would call back multiple times to demand greater sums of money, making claims including that a baby had been lost in the car accident, Justice Department officials said. The money furnished lavish lifestyles for call center operators. Castanos Garcia spent the money on "upgrades to his home and luxury purchases," including a boat, court documents said. Photographs included in a federal affidavit show Castanos Garcia sitting in a hot tub aboard a yacht. Growing scheme The grandparent scam case in Massachusetts, which included at least 50 victims, is the latest in the growing field of elder fraud. FBI officials announced in June that older adults across the United States reported nearly $4.89 billion in losses due to fraud schemes, including grandparent scams. The sum represents a 43% increase in losses from 2023, according to the FBI. According to data from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, there were 147,127 complaints of elder fraud in 2024, a 46% increase from 2024, the FBI said. Among recent schemes, a federal grand jury indicted a man from the Dominican Republic in March in connection with a scheme to defraud five people of $50,000, USA TODAY previously reported. Luis Alfonso Bisono Rodriguez, a citizen of the Caribbean nation living in Cleveland, played all the parts of the scam from opener to runner. He pleaded not guilty in July. "Elder fraud is a growing problem and a shameful crime," Kimberly Milka, acting special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston Division, said in a release about elder fraud. "Not only does it rob an already vulnerable population of their sense of security, but it leaves them with devastating financial losses." Older adults are targeted because they are often seen as more trusting and also less likely to report being scammed, federal officials said. People can report elder fraud scams by emailing calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), or online at the FBI's IC3 Elder Fraud Complaint Center.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
Texas Rangers spark backlash for honoring controversial former star after he was accused of beating his daughter
Texas Rangers fans have lashed out after the franchise honored controversial former star Josh Hamilton on Saturday. Prior to their game against the Philadelphia Phillies, five-time All-Star Hamilton was brought on field and was presented with his Rangers Hall of Fame jacket. However, fans questioned the decision to honor Hamilton given his tarnished off-field reputation - after he was accused of assaulting his daughter in 2019. Six years ago, the former American League MVP surrendered to police in Texas after being accused of injuring one of his three daughters by throwing a chair into her legs and hitting her with a closed fist. The following April, he was indicted by a grand jury over the incident. In 2022, he plead guilty to unlawful restraint as part of a plea deal that dismissed the indictment. Hamilton was then sentenced to one-year of deferred probation, fined $500, ordered to pay court costs and attend parenting and anger management classes. Former Texas Ranger Hamilton previously plead guilty to unlawful restraint in a plea deal that dismissed a 2020 felony indictment for injury to a child However, despite his tarnished reputation, the Rangers decided to honor him at their game on Saturday and allowed him to throw the ceremonial first pitch of the afternoon. The franchise later took to X to celebrate the moment, writing: 'All love for the legend'. It drew backlash from fans, with one writing: 'Does that include when he assaulted his daughter?' Hamilton was initially inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame in August 2019, prior to the alleged assault. However, the team didn't begin the tradition of handing out Hall of Fame blazers until 2021, hence why he hadn't received one prior to Saturday. According to a police affidavit back in 2019, Hamilton's daughter told Keller police that he went on a rampage on September 30. She says she made a comment to Hamilton that upset him, so he threw a full water bottle overhand at her, hitting her in the chest, then began cursing and shouting at her. She says she apologized, but Hamilton still threw her over his shoulder, carried her to her room, dumped her on her bed, pressed her head against the mattress and hit her legs, leaving scratches from his fingernails. At one point, she claimed, he lifted her by her sweatshirt, causing it to rip. According to the arrest affidavit, she said Hamilton hit her with both an open hand and closed fist. Finally, according to the affidavit, Hamilton allegedly told her: 'I hope you go in front of the f***ing judge and tell him what a terrible dad I am so I don't have to see you anymore and you don't ever have to come to my house again.' Hamilton has two other daughters with his former wife, Katie Chadwick Hamilton. Hamilton's baseball career included five All-Star selections, but it was also known for his problems with addiction. After being drafted with the first-overall pick of the 1999 MLB Draft, Hamilton struggled in the minors, was sent to the Betty Ford Center for drug rehabilitation, and ultimately failed several drug tests before being suspended by the team. But after three years away from the game, Hamilton finally made his Major League debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, finishing the year with an impressive 19 home runs and a .292 batting average. Things really took off for Hamilton the following season after he signed in Texas, where he was later named the American League's MVP in 2010. He also played two seasons with the Anaheim Angels before returning to Texas for his final season in 2015. He also suffered drug and alcohol relapses that season, according to multiple reports. 'I hope that people saw me as just… a real person, a human being, with his struggles and his challenges like everyone else,' Hamilton wrote in an open letter, before being inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame. 'I wasn't trying to pretend that I was Superman, or like I was above anybody and could do no wrong. I was just trying to do the best I could and to be honest about what I was going through.'
Metro
04-08-2025
- Metro
Four tourists arrested in Mauritius over 'bid to smuggle £4,000,000 of cannabis'
Four Brits are among nine people reportedly arrested at Mauritius' main airport on suspicion of attempting to smuggle a huge haul of cannabis onto the island. Eight of the group were found with a total of 212kg (averaging nearly 27kg per person) of the drug at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport (SSR) on May 29, authorities told local media. They include 18-year-old Chloe Nancy Parker, whose luggage allegedly contained 46 bags of cannabis totalling 44.95kg. Fellow Brits Shania Mabel Rosalind Wood, 25, and Alethea Jade Demitre, 33, allegedly each had 33.1kg stuffed into multiple suitcases. Another Brit, Daniel Jonathan Pearson, did not have drugs on him but is suspected of leading the group into the country, which is east of Africa. He was first to arrive at a customs checkpoint and attempted to distract officials by becoming 'violent and hostile' in a bid to let the others pass without suspicion. according to Mauritian news outlet Defi Info. Drug smuggling investigators from Mauritius' police force were said to have been expecting some kind of an attempt thanks to 'early surveillance'. Authorities had gathered specific intelligence on an international drug trafficking network', Defo Info added. Pearson was arrested and the other eight were searched 'simultaneously'. The other suspects, including Dominican and Portuguese nationals, are Hansel Gomez, Esequiel Perez, Ildo Valera De Brito, Luis Manuel Herrera Martinez and Soraia Cristina Da Silva Cruz. All nine have been charged with 'drug dealing with aggravating circumstances' and remain in custody. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: 'We are supporting a number of British nationals who have been detained in Mauritius and are in contact with the local authorities.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page.
