Friday, April 11

At least 221 people are dead after the roof of a nightclub collapsed in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic.

The incident occurred at the Jet Set nightclub, one of the most popular nightclubs in the city, early in the morning on Tuesday, around 1 am. At the time, the venue was hosting a live music event that takes place every Monday, with hundreds of people attending. Unfortunately, during the concert, the roof collapsed onto the crowd, sparking chaos.

Rescue workers and firefighters rushed to the scene soon after the incident, and they quickly began searching for survivors. According to the head of the city's fire department, some rescue workers stayed in the area, searching, for over 53 hours straight.

After the extensive, multi-day search-and-rescue operation came to an end, it was confirmed that a total of 221 bodies were recovered from the rubble, along with 189 survivors. Local police have also confirmed that no one is missing, and everybody is accounted for.

Just a few of the victims of the collapse include the merengue singer, Rubby Pérez, who was performing onstage at the time; several other famous merengue singers, like Juan Luis Guerra; former Major League Baseball players, like pitcher Octavio Dotel; Nelsy Cruz, the governor of Dominican Republic's Montecristi Province; and fashion designer Martín Polano.

Three days of national mourning have been declared for the country after the terrible disaster, and families are now swarming the morgue to find and recover the bodies of their lost loved ones. So far, authorities have identified around 150 of the bodies, and they are working hard to complete autopsies for each person and identify everyone as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, local police are still trying to determine the cause of the collapse. The building was over 50 years old, so old infrastructure may have played into it, but investigations have just begun now that the search-and-rescue operation has finished.

Fact of the Day (Today): Competitive art used to be an Olympic sport.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come. (Emil Zátopek)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Chary (adj, CHAIR-ee) - Chary is usually used with about or of to describe someone who is cautious about doing something.

In a Sentence: The director is chary about spending money.