‘It was a horror film’: witnesses recount Dominican Republic nightclub tragedy: Video
Survivors and first responders are sharing harrowing memories of the Jet Set nightclub collapse, which claimed 221 lives in the early hours of April 8, transforming a night of music into one of the country’s deadliest disasters in recent memory.
“It was like a horror movie,” said Arlenne Matos, 47, who lives nearby and rushed to the scene after hearing a loud bang. “People were shouting, ‘Get me out of here, I am alive, help me,’” he recounted to the AFP.
Three days later, families are still waiting to identify the dead, while the nightclub lies in ruins - its roof reduced to rubble and twisted steel. According to the office of President Luis Abinader, 189 people were pulled alive from the debris.
First responder Fabio Miniato, a 60-year-old firefighter, described the trauma of the rescue efforts. “At the entrance, under a slab, there was a leg sticking out. She couldn’t have been more than 18 or 20. And I thought - someone is waiting for her at home.”
As dawn broke that morning, he recalled the haunting sound of cell phones ringing beneath the rubble. “That was all people looking for their relatives,” he said.
The tragedy has left young people especially shaken. Emma Nicole Barba, a 23-year-old student, stood among mourners near the site.
“You think it could have been me, a sibling, a friend,” she said. “Let’s hope the authorities respond. This was a very big catastrophe.”
The cause of the collapse remains under investigation.
