The death toll from the nightclub collapse in the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo has reached 225, with several victims succumbing to their injuries at hospitals this Saturday.
The tragic incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday during a concert by merengue singer Rubby Perez at the Jet Set nightclub, and the singer was among those killed in the incident, his manager said. His funeral, attended by President Luis Abinader and Latin music icon Juan Luis Guerra, took place on Thursday.
Among the victims, the tragedy took a particularly devastating toll on "Los Dorados," a close-knit group of seniors from the town of Haina who had gathered that night to celebrate decades of friendship.
Seventeen members of "Los Dorados" were at the club, joined by Perez, who also grew up in Haina and had returned to perform for longtime friends.
"It felt like an explosion, a horrifying blast. I didn't walk out. I was hurled outside by the force, thrown like the wind. My friend, I thought she was crushed, broken, because she emerged covered in water and blood. You could hear people wailing, crying for help. My sister was in there," said Ofelia Roy, a survivor of the blast.
Roy was the one who noticed warning signs before the collapse.
"I went to talk to security, told them pieces of the ceiling were falling, that the roof was peeling off. He brushed it off. But it wasn't normal at all. It had started peeling in the morning, and they had been sweeping up the debris. And then, when I turned to check if my sister was behind me, right then, the explosion came," she said.
The collapse also took away three family members' lives of Domingo Guillen, another member of the "Los Dorados."
"At Jet Set, they were going to honor Rubby Perez. But also, my sister was celebrating her birthday. Since she was one of us, he dedicated the party to her, to all of us. I lost two siblings and my brother-in-law," he said.
Jet Set is a popular nightclub in Santo Domingo that regularly hosts dance music concerts on Monday evenings.
Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican Republic, on Tuesday declared three days of national mourning to honor the victims, while an investigation to determine the cause of the deadly collapse is already underway.
Death toll in Dominican nightclub collapse reaches 225
China will strengthen fiscal and financial coordination to amplify policy effectiveness, experts said as the draft central and local budgets for 2026 were unveiled on Friday at the ongoing fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress.
According to the draft central and local budgets for 2026, 1.3 trillion yuan (190 billion U.S. dollars) of ultra-long special treasury bonds will be issued to provide continued support for the implementation of major national strategies and security capacity-building in key areas and for large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs.
Ultra-long special treasury bonds totaling 800 billion yuan will be allocated to support the implementation of major national strategies and security capacity-building in key areas, and 250 billion yuan in ultra-long special treasury bonds will be earmarked for consumer goods trade-in programs.
The country will refine these programs in terms of their scope and subsidy standards, and continue to support the scrapping and replacement of automobiles, home appliance trade-in schemes, and purchases of new digital and smart products.
China will also set up a 100-billion-yuan fiscal-financial coordination fund to boost domestic demand. The fund will support consumption and private investment through loan interest subsidies, financing guarantee, and risk compensation.
"Fiscal and monetary policies are the two major macroeconomic tools for macro-control, and their coordination is crucial. For instance, fiscal funds primarily serve as a guiding role, while financial institutions provide the capital. When fiscal guidance and financial resources are combined, the synergistic effect creates a result greater than the sum of its parts," said Yang Zhiyong, director of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences.
"By leveraging interest subsidies, we can mobilize substantial credit from financial institutions, thereby naturally stimulating consumption. The Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the People's Bank of China, has introduced highly innovative measures, such as providing guarantees for the issuance of corporate bonds by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and compensating investors for losses. I believe the leveraging effect, making minimal efforts for maximum results, will become even more potent," said Yao Dongmin, director of the Center for China Fiscal Development under the Central University of Finance and Economics.
China's top legislature opened its annual session on Thursday morning at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders attending the opening meeting alongside more than 2,700 NPC deputies. This year's NPC session is scheduled to run till March 12.
China to strengthen fiscal, financial coordination to amplify policy effectiveness: experts
