The collapse of the roof at the nightclub of the Dominican Republic kills at least 13

At least 15 people died after a roof collapsed in a nightclub in the Dominican Republic.

Many others are injured and the rescuers are still trying to release people from the rubble.

We do not yet know what caused the incident, which occurred in the first hours of Tuesday during a concert by the popular singer of Merengue, Rubby Pérez, at the Jet Set Disconheque in the capital, Santo Domingo.

The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, expressed his condolences to affected families.

The director of the Center for Emergency Operations (CEE), Juan Manuel Méndez, said that the rescuers still sought people under the debris.

He added that ambulances had made more than 100 trips to hospitals in the region, sometimes transporting more than one patient. Officials are still trying to determine the total number of people injured.

The preliminary total of people killed is 15.

Mr. Méndez said he hoped that many people buried under the collapsed roof were still alive.

Jet Set is a popular nightclub in the capital that regularly hosts dance music concerts on Monday evening.

Video sequences apparently taken inside the club show people sitting in tables in front of the stage and dance in music in the back while Rubby Pérez sings.

In a separate mobile phone recording shared on social networks, a man standing next to the scene can be heard that “something has fallen from the ceiling”, while his finger can be seen pointing towards the roof.

In the images, singer Rubby Pérez also seems to look towards the area underlined by man.

Less than 30 seconds later, a noise can be heard and the recording becomes black while a woman is heard screaming “Dad, what happened to you got there?”.

One of the members of the Rubby Pérez group told local media that the club had been full when the collapse occurred “around 1 am”.

“I thought it was an earthquake,” said the musician.