At least 98 people have died and 160 others have been injured by a collapsing roof at a nightclub in the capital of the Dominican Republic, the authorities said.
Rescue crews were searching for potential survivors in the rubble at the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo, said Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the emergency operations centre.
"We presume that many of them are still alive, and that is why the authorities here will not give up until not a single person remains under that rubble," he said.
It is not yet clear what caused the roof collapse, which happened in the early hours of Tuesday during a concert by merengue singer Rubby Pérez.
His manager, Enrique Paulino, told reporters that the concert began shortly before midnight, with the roof collapsing almost an hour later, killing the group's saxophonist.
“It happened so quickly. I managed to throw myself into a corner,” he said, adding that he initially thought it was an earthquake.
President Luis Abinader said on X that all rescue agencies are "working tirelessly" to help those affected.
"We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub. We have been following the incident minute by minute since it occurred."
Abinader arrived at the scene later on Tuesday and hugged those looking for friends and family, some with tears streaming down their faces.
At one hospital where the injured were taken, an official stood outside reading aloud the names of survivors as a crowd gathered and yelled out the names of their loved ones.
Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi, and the Dominican baseball player Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera were among the dead.
After becoming trapped when the roof collapsed, Cruz managed to call the president President at 12.49am and tell him about what had happened, according to the first lady Raquel Abraje. Cruz later died in hospital, officials confirmed.
“This is too great a tragedy,” Abraje said.
Video footage apparently filmed inside the club and shared on social media shows several people looking at the ceiling while quickly moving away from the middle of the dance floor. In one of the videos — which could not be independently verified by Euronews — screams can be heard before the recording goes black.
