Sawt Falasteen - Death toll from Dominican nightclub disaster rises to 231: minister

The roof of the Jet Set nightclub in the capital Santo Domingo came crashing down in the early hours of Tuesday last week on hundreds of people attending a concert by merengue star Rubby Perez, who also died in the Caribbean nation's worst disaster in decades.

More than 300 rescuers, aided by sniffer dogs, worked tirelessly for days to find survivors, and pulled 189 people alive from the mounds of twisted steel, zinc and brick that remain of the structure.

Identification of the deceased, and the handing over of remains to loved ones, was concluded early Saturday.

The Dominican government has announced a commission of national and international experts to investigate the calamity.

"We have confirmed a number of fatalities from the disaster that currently stands at 231 deaths: 221 were recovered from the site and 10 more were recovered in hospitals," Dominican Interior Minister Faride Raful told reporters Monday.

New York mayor Eric Adams arrived in Santo Domingo on Sunday and was scheduled to visit the disaster site.

Aerial images of the site show a scene resembling the aftermath of an earthquake.

A preliminary list of victims includes a Haitian, an Italian, two French citizens and, according to the US State Department, "several" Americans.

President Luis Abinader has pledged to find out "what happened, why it happened, how it happened."

The six days of mourning decreed by Abinader ended Sunday.

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST