MARTIN BERNETTIAFP
Grief-stricken Dominicans on Thursday began holding funerals for loved ones who were among at least 220 people killed in a nightclub rooftop collapse, even as dozens remained unaccounted for.
More than 300 rescuers, aided by sniffer dogs, have worked tirelessly since disaster struck early Tuesday to pull survivors from the rubble of the Jet Set club in the Dominican Republic's capital, Santo Domingo.
Officials called off the search for live victims on Wednesday night, as efforts shifted to recovering bodies from the mounds of twisted steel, zinc and brick that remain of the structure.
Local media had reported between 500 and 1,000 people at the club for a concert by renowned merengue singer Rubby Perez, who was on stage when the roof came down. The 69-year-old died on site, but his daughter made it out alive.
Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Center for Emergency Operations, put the official death toll at 221 on Thursday and said 189 people were pulled out of the debris alive.
Mendez told reporters that a consolidated report of victims will be published in the coming hours, as the Dominican Republic observes three days of national mourning.
"Our rescue team is already concluding the search operations," he added.
Health Minister Victor Atallah said earlier there could be more bodies under the rubble in the Caribbean nation's worst tragedy in decades.
"No one will be left unidentified. No one will be left without an answer," he told reporters. "We are going to move every last stone that needs to be moved."
The Dominican presidency announced the establishment of a commission of national and international experts to investigate the calamity.
