Officials scramble to identify victims of Dominican club roof collapse that killed at least 184

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The number of victims who died after a roof collapsed at an iconic nightclub surged to 184 late Wednesday as dozens of people lingered outside the Dominican Republic’s forensic institute for news of their loved ones still missing more than a day after disaster struck.

Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations, said crews at the scene were still looking for victims and potential survivors, although no one has been found alive since Tuesday afternoon.

“We're not going to abandon anyone. Our work will continue,” he said.

Several blocks away from the rubble, people searching for friends and family donned face masks and began complaining about a bad odor as they pleaded with officials to give them information about their loved ones.

Earlier in the day, National Institute of Forensic Pathology officials read the names of 54 victims they had identified so far.

“We cannot wait until nighttime!” said one woman who was waiting for news of a relative whose name she did not hear. “We're going to go crazy!”

Officials called for calm, saying they had already delivered at least 28 bodies to their families but did not yet have a tally of all the bodies recovered. Late Wednesday, officials raised the number of dead to at least 184, with over 200 injured.

“The authorities are selling us false dreams!” cried out José Sánchez, whose brother and brother-in-law were still missing.

The legendary Jet Set club in Santo Domingo was packed with musicians, professional athletes and government officials when dust began falling from the ceiling and into people's drinks early Tuesday.

Minutes later, the entire roof collapsed. Concrete slabs killed some instantly and trapped dozens of others on a dance floor where hundreds had been dancing to a lively merengue concert. In the minutes that followed, the country's 911 system received more than 100 calls, many from people buried under rubble.

The victims include merengue icon Rubby Pérez, who had been singing to the crowd before disaster struck. His body was found early Wednesday, said emergency operations director Juan Manuel Méndez.

The government announced Wednesday evening that it was moving to a recovery phase focused on finding bodies after 145 people were rescued from the wreckage of the nightclub. Rescue crews from Puerto Rico and Israel had arrived early Wednesday to help with the search.

Santo Domingo Mayor Carolina Mejía praised what she said were acts of love, including one Dominican who was handing out coffee to those at the scene and a man on vacation from Costa Rica who joined the search because he's part of a rescue crew back home.

So far, only a few dozen people have been identified in one of the worst disasters to hit the Dominican Republic. Those who died include a cardiologist, a government architect, a retired police officer, a retired United Nations official, the son and daughter-in-law of the minister of public works and the brother of the vice minister of the Ministry of Youth.

Also killed was former MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel and Dominican player Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera, Satosky Terrero, spokesperson for the country’s Professional Baseball League, told The Associated Press.

Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi and sister of seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz, alerted President Luis Abinader about the disaster. She called him from underneath the rubble but later died at a hospital.

Other victims include saxophonist Luis Solís, who was playing onstage when the roof fell; New York-based fashion designer Martín Polanco; several Venezuelan bartenders; and an Army captain who left behind four young girls. Grupo Popular, a financial services company, said three of its employees also died, including the president of AFP Popular Bank and his wife. One man tearfully told reporters that he lost five relatives, including his wife and son.

Dozens of victims remained unidentified.

“I have been to many hospitals, and I have not found her,” Deysi Suriel said of her friend, 61-year-old Milca Curiel, a North Carolina resident who was on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

Health Minister Dr. Víctor Elías Atallah Lajam announced the creation of a commission to provide psychological help for the victims’ families.

More than 20 of the injured remained hospitalized Wednesday, including at least eight in critical condition.

“A point in their favor is that they're young,” said Dr. Julio Landrón, director general of the Dr. Ney Arias Lora Trauma Hospital, which has 21 of the Jet Set injured, including five in critical condition.

Landrón warned, however, that none of them are in the clear, noting some suffered fractures in the skull, femur and pelvis.

“They spent hours, more than six, seven, eight hours under rubble with multiple fractures, multiple injuries, with bleeding related to being crushed,” he said.

Dozens of frantic relatives listened to officials read aloud a list of the identified victims at the forensics institute, while others went from hospital to hospital looking for their loved ones, some clutching photographs.

“Francisco Alberto Méndez ... Rosa Herminia Pérez ... Ramón Teodoro Jiménez ... Juan Manuel Santana,” one official read as the crowd strained to listen.

“Here! Here!” yelled one person upon hearing the name of their loved one.

In the crowd was Virginia Rosario, who was looking for relatives including her cousin, who is still missing, and her sister, Rosa Herminia Pérez, who died and whom she described as “beautiful, precious, very nice.”

“I'm in a lot of pain,” she said. “I have had many moments of despair.”

Officials said late Wednesday morning that they had not been able to identify at least 33 bodies.

“This is a very traumatic situation,” said national lawmaker Pedro Martínez, who also has relatives missing.

Among those searching for friends and family was Kimberly Jones, whose godson, 45-year-old artist Osiris Blanc, and his friends were missing.

“It was their favorite place, they went there almost every Monday,” Jones said. She said her niece also was missing.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the roof to collapse, or when the Jet Set building was last inspected.

The club issued a statement saying it was cooperating with authorities. A spokesperson for the family that owns the club told The Associated Press that she passed along questions about potential inspections.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Works referred questions to the mayor’s office. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Colonel Valdez speaks to reporters at the National Institute of Forensic Pathology in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, while holding photos of people who remain missing after a roof collapsed at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert. (AP Photo/Marvin Del Cid)

Rescue workers carry the recovered body of a victim who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Relatives wait as rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, early Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Women cry during the search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Soldiers arrive to the area where rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A woman touches a photo of one of the missing during the search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Rescue workers cut a wall while searching for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two days prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A rescue worker rests as others continue the search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Rescue workers stand by as they take turns searching for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights ago during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Rescue workers use sheets as they recover bodies from the rubble at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A rescue worker comforts a woman during the search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Soldiers guard access to the area while rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A rescue worker comforts a woman during the search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A soldier hydrates while rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eddy Vittini)

A woman stands outside the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights before during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A relative of a missing person is comforted by a friend outside Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

People hold up photos of their relatives while waiting to identify them at the National Institute of Forensic Pathology after the roof collapsed at Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025.(AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

People read lists of survivors as crews search for others trapped at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

People searching for their missing relatives peruse a list of names outside the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A relative of a missing person is comforted by friends outside Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

People listen to lists of survivors as crews search for others trapped in the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025.(AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

People gather outside the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Relatives cry while waiting for news of loved ones outside the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eddy Vittini)

Rescue workers carry a person pulled from the wreckage of the nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eddy Vittini)

Rescue workers search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eddy Vittini)

Rescue workers carry a person pulled from the wreckage of the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

Relatives of missing people embrace while waiting at the National Institute of Forensic Pathology after the roof collapsed at Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization has arrived in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, to support efforts against an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola virus, where he called on the international health body to work with the local community to stop the spread.

The World Health Organization said Friday authorities have reported 125 confirmed cases in Congo, including 17 confirmed deaths. Additionally, there are 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths.

Neighboring Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, the Ugandan ministry of health said Friday.

“To come here is to really show to the community that they’re not alone," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the airport in Kinshasa late Thursday.

“Pushing orders from my comfortable office in Geneva is easy, but I’m asking my colleagues to work with the community and I am asking communities to protect themselves,” he added.

The outbreak “can be stopped,” he said, but is “very complex.”

Challenges like the high number of people displaced by armed conflict in the region and food insecurity are complicating efforts, Tedros said. Aid supplies reached the heart of the outbreak this week but medical personnel continue to struggle with a lack of equipment, a distrustful population and armed groups in the volatile region.

Containment has been particularly difficult because the disease likely spread for weeks before it was first identified in mid-May.

The outbreak continues to spread faster than the response, despite health facilities becoming more organized and more equipment arriving.

The Bundibugyo virus, the current kind of Ebola, has no approved treatment or vaccine.

Anaïs Legand, a researcher in the WHO emergencies program, cited a patient discharged Wednesday as a “positive development” since it is the only documented recovery of a confirmed Ebola patient during the current outbreak.

Legand said at a U.N. briefing in Geneva Friday that five other infected people were also likely to recover.

The average fatality rate of Bundibugyo virus is around 30 to 50%, she said.

Medical aid donated by the European Union arrived in Ituri, the heart of Congo’s Ebola outbreak, on Thursday, with more shipments expected over the next eight days. The U.S. announced $80 million in additional aid on the same day, bringing its total commitment to more than $112 million.

At Rwampara Hospital, where a treatment center has been established, the response looks far more organized than in previous days, with more staff deployed, stronger prevention measures and teams in protective gear visible across units — though patients continue to arrive around the clock, according to an AP reporter in Bunia, the provincial capital.

The same progress was noted at Bunia General Hospital, where new medical kits, support personnel and emergency funding appear to be reinvigorating operations.

David Munkley, the eastern Congo director of World Vision, said Friday more equipment and supplies are still needed.

“We know what is required in terms of personal protective equipment, in terms of supporting communities and ensuring proper sanitation hygiene practices,” Munkley told the AP. “So the moment of truth is, are we going to fund it or not?”

Congo’s Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told reporters Thursday night they are exploring more drugs “that can help save even more lives, because ... this disease initially presents just like any other infectious disease we’re familiar with: dizziness, headache, fever, vomiting and diarrhea.”

The continent's top public health body will “ensure that we have a vaccine and a treatment for Bundibugyo" by the end of the year, Africa CDC chief Jean Kaseya said Thursday.

Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims' bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.

Attacks in Ituri by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.

The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.

After Uganda closed its border with Congo, the WHO chief said Thursday he discourages countries from imposing travel bans. “There are ways to manage workers and to manage cases without having a strong, restricted travel ban,” Tedros said.

The Trump administration last week announced a temporary ban on the entry of people without U.S. passports who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days. It said Wednesday it plans to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the U.S.

——

Kabumba reported from Bunia, Congo, and Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Monika Pronczuk in Dakar contributed to this report.

Health workers get ready to start their shift at the Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Women from the community prepare a site for a new Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Health workers get ready to start their shift at the Ebola treatment center in Rwampara, Congo, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

From left, Luboya Nkashama, Military Governor of Ituri Province, Patrick Muyaya, Minister of Communication and Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, Minister of Public Health, speak to the press during a briefing on the Ebola response in Bunia, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, Minister of Public Health, addresses the press during a briefing on the Ebola response in Bunia, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

From left, Luboya Nkashama, Military Governor of Ituri Province, Patrick Muyaya, Minister of Communication and Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, Minister of Public Health, speak to the press during a briefing on the Ebola response in Bunia, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, left, is welcomed by U.K. Minister for International Development and Africa Jenny Chapman at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. CORRECTION: corrects U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to U.K. Minister for International Development and Africa Jenny Chapman (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrives at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, left, is welcomed by UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, left, is welcomed by UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, left, is welcomed by UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaks to the media upon his arrival at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)