Latest news with #Shailyn
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Couple Went on Cruise to Celebrate 25th Wedding Anniversary. They Were Shocked When They Saw Daughter Onboard (Exclusive)
To celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Daniel and Melissa Figueroa booked an eight-day cruise to the Bahamas. They were "disappointed" when their daughter, Shailyn Torres, told them she couldn't join them because the cruise sold out In reality, Shailyn and her husband had already booked the cruise and were planning on surprising them onboard "It was honestly one of the most rewarding feelings I've ever had. Being able to give them that kind of joy, especially for such a milestone, meant everything," Shailyn tells PEOPLEOne couple celebrating their wedding anniversary were shocked when their daughter crashed the party. In honor of their 25th wedding anniversary on May 19, Daniel and Melissa Figueroa booked an eight-day cruise to the Bahamas. Although Daniel, 47, and Melissa, 46, were excited to set sail for their Caribbean getaway, Melissa especially had hoped that their daughter, Shailyn Torres, would join them and was "disappointed" when she told them that the cruise had sold out. "Little did she know, I had already booked the cruise a week before it actually sold out!" Shailyn tells PEOPLE. Shailyn, 30, and her husband, Sergio Torres, 33, kept the surprise a secret from Daniel and Melissa for about two months. "My husband and I cruise often, but we told my mom we weren't fans of Carnival [Cruise Line] just to throw her off," Shailyn explains. "We made up excuses so she wouldn't suspect a thing." Even though Shailyn's mother and stepfather are "usually good at picking up on surprises," this time, "they had no idea." The day before Daniel and Melissa's milestone anniversary, they were sitting at the bar of the cruise ship, waiting to sail away from the Baltimore Cruise Port. That's when Shailyn and Sergio quietly snuck up behind them before announcing themselves. Once they realized who was behind them, Daniel and Melissa immediately began gasping and screaming in excitement before getting up from their barstools to hug Shailyn and Sergio. "They were so surprised and incredibly happy," Shailyn remembers. "They couldn't stop smiling or talking about how I managed to pull it off." The moment was just as meaningful to Shailyn. "It was honestly one of the most rewarding feelings I've ever had," she says. "Being able to give them that kind of joy, especially for such a milestone, meant everything. I was so happy, emotional and proud that the surprise worked perfectly." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. She recorded the sweet surprise and posted it on TikTok that day, writing in the caption: "POV: You show up unannounced on your parents' cruise to surprise them for their 25th wedding anniversary. 💖🚢.Their faces = priceless 🥹. 25 years of love, and we couldn't let them celebrate without a family twist. Here's to love that lasts and surprises that hit just right! 🥂✨." In the video, several onlookers at the bar looked just as moved by the surprise. "People around us were super curious," Shailyn recalls. "My mom was screaming with joy and everyone was laughing and smiling." All of the commotion even caught the DJ's attention. He stopped the music to ask what was going on and after learning about the heartwarming reunion, he announced the 25th wedding anniversary surprise. "The whole room started clapping," Shailyn says. "Strangers were coming up to us saying how beautiful and heartwarming it was." Shailyn and Sergio joined Daniel and Melissa for the entire trip. Even "more special" was that the group resided on the same floor, Deck 7. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Unbearable wait for relatives in nightclub disaster
Maximo Peña had been coming to the Jet Set nightclub every single Monday for the past 30 years. This week, excited to see a concert by the popular Dominican singer Rubby Pérez, he took his wife and his sister. Now all three are buried beneath the rubble of the collapsed discotheque, after the roof caved in part way through the performance, leaving at least 184 dead. "I haven't heard any news about any of them," says Shailyn Peña, Maximo's 17-year-old daughter as she sits on a wall outside the devastated venue. "It was just another Monday night for them. In fact, my dad invited my mum to come too but at the last minute she decided not to go. It was a blessing in disguise." Behind her as she speaks, a team of rescue workers is meticulously going through the rubble inside the building, listening for the slightest sound of a survivor beneath them. They have been joined by Israeli and Mexican search teams and are using sophisticated heat-seeking equipment to try to locate anyone still alive. Shailyn tells me her cousin is one of the rescue workers, sifting through the debris for her own uncle, which brings her peace of mind that a relative is inside, doing everything in her power to try to track him down. But the uncertainty and the endless wait for information are becoming unbearable, Shailyn says. "I feel the urge to just go in there and push aside all the rocks and pull him out. But as much as I want to, I really can't. I just have to sit here and wait it out." For their part, the authorities are doing what they can to keep the public informed, delivering grim updates on the number of dead, which has risen steadily with every passing hour. At regular intervals, a team emerges from the site carrying a body covered by a blanket on a stretcher. Occasionally, although more rarely now, someone is brought out alive, bolstering the hopes of the relatives. The emergency services insist survivors can still be reached in the debris. "Nothing can be ruled out," said the Director of the Emergency Operations Centre, Juan Manuel Mendez. "We are going to go over every inch of the rubble here to give the families of those caught up in the disaster some kind of closure." The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, declared three days of national mourning, a reflection of the scale of the tragedy unfolding at the site. Among those confirmed to have lost their lives in the accident were some well-known national figures including Pérez himself, two much-loved former baseball players, Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco, and a regional governor. And alongside them, scores of merengue music-lovers and Pérez fans also died in the collapse. For as long as there is a feasible chance of success, the authorities' focus remains on the search and rescue operation. However, eventually the questions will turn to the cause of the collapse and government investigators will have to provide meaningful answers to the families in due course. One theory is already circulating outside the venue. Many are pointing the finger of blame at a fire at the nightclub around two years ago. Some fear the blaze structurally weakened the site or that any repairs carried out were insufficient or not up to code. The owner of the Jet Set nightclub, Antonio Espaillat, delivered a video message via social media expressing his condolences and those of "all the Jet Set family", to the victims' relatives. He also insisted that he and his team were co-operating "totally and transparently with the authorities" over the disaster. Shailyn Peña has heard about the fire at the nightclub and is among those who thinks it played a part. However, for now she has bigger worries. Despite the family's efforts to protect them, her younger stepsisters found out that their father and mother were trapped under the rubble from other children at school. They are "terrified", she added. It is Shailyn's birthday on Thursday, a day she would normally celebrate alongside her father, stepmother and aunt. Instead, she must endure it in the worst possible circumstances, waiting for news of her missing loved ones, caught inside the worst such tragedy in her country's modern history. Despair as death toll from Dominican Republic nightclub collapse rises Dominican Republic nightclub collapse kills 113
BBC News
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Unbearable wait for relatives in Dominican Republic nightclub disaster
Maximo Peña had been coming to the Jet Set nightclub every single Monday for the past 30 week, excited to see a concert by the popular Dominican singer Rubby Pérez, he took his wife and his sister. Now all three are buried beneath the rubble of the collapsed discotheque, after the roof caved in part way through the performance, leaving at least 184 dead."I haven't heard any news about any of them," says Shailyn Peña, Maximo's 17-year-old daughter as she sits on a wall outside the devastated venue."It was just another Monday night for them. In fact, my dad invited my mum to come too but at the last minute she decided not to go. It was a blessing in disguise." Behind her as she speaks, a team of rescue workers is meticulously going through the rubble inside the building, listening for the slightest sound of a survivor beneath them. They have been joined by Israeli and Mexican search teams and are using sophisticated heat-seeking equipment to try to locate anyone still alive. Shailyn tells me her cousin is one of the rescue workers, sifting through the debris for her own uncle, which brings her peace of mind that a relative is inside, doing everything in her power to try to track him the uncertainty and the endless wait for information are becoming unbearable, Shailyn says."I feel the urge to just go in there and push aside all the rocks and pull him out. But as much as I want to, I really can't. I just have to sit here and wait it out." For their part, the authorities are doing what they can to keep the public informed, delivering grim updates on the number of dead, which has risen steadily with every passing hour. At regular intervals, a team emerges from the site carrying a body covered by a blanket on a although more rarely now, someone is brought out alive, bolstering the hopes of the relatives. The emergency services insist survivors can still be reached in the debris."Nothing can be ruled out," said the Director of the Emergency Operations Centre, Juan Manuel Mendez. "We are going to go over every inch of the rubble here to give the families of those caught up in the disaster some kind of closure."The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, declared three days of national mourning, a reflection of the scale of the tragedy unfolding at the site. Among those confirmed to have lost their lives in the accident were some well-known national figures including Pérez himself, two much-loved former baseball players, Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco, and a regional governor. And alongside them, scores of merengue music-lovers and Pérez fans also died in the collapse. For as long as there is a feasible chance of success, the authorities' focus remains on the search and rescue operation. However, eventually the questions will turn to the cause of the collapse and government investigators will have to provide meaningful answers to the families in due theory is already circulating outside the venue. Many are pointing the finger of blame at a fire at the nightclub around two years ago. Some fear the blaze structurally weakened the site or that any repairs carried out were insufficient or not up to owner of the Jet Set nightclub, Antonio Espaillat, delivered a video message via social media expressing his condolences and those of "all the Jet Set family", to the victims' also insisted that he and his team were co-operating "totally and transparently with the authorities" over the Peña has heard about the fire at the nightclub and is among those who thinks it played a part. However, for now she has bigger worries. Despite the family's efforts to protect them, her younger stepsisters found out that their father and mother were trapped under the rubble from other children at are "terrified", she is Shailyn's birthday on Thursday, a day she would normally celebrate alongside her father, stepmother and she must endure it in the worst possible circumstances, waiting for news of her missing loved ones, caught inside the worst such tragedy in her country's modern history.
