SANTO DOMINGO, April 9, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The roof of a Santo Domingo nightclub collapsed on Tuesday as merengue legend Rubby Perez sang on stage, killing the Dominican star along with nearly a hundred other people.

Here is what we know about the disaster.

- How it unfolded -

The roof of the Jet Set club collapsed after midnight on Tuesday (0400 GMT).

Social media videos show the moment everything went dark while Perez sang.

Authorities sent 370 rescue personnel to the nightclub where aerial images showed a large hole in the roof.

Relatives of clubgoers soon flocked to the area surrounding the Jet Set, as well as nearby hospitals and the local morgue, seeking news of their loved ones.

By early Wednesday, the preliminary death toll had reached 98, according to the head of the rescue agency.

Dominican President Luis Abinader has declared three days of national mourning.

- Rubby Perez -

Roberto Antonio Perez Herrera sang hits including "Volvere" and "Enamorado de Ella" under the name Rubby Perez.

He was one of merengue music's most recognizable voices, with fellow artist Wilfrido Vargas saying after Tuesday's disaster that the "friend and idol of our genre has just left us."

Perez's daughter Zulinka told reporters she had managed to escape after the roof collapsed, but he had not.

Vargas, who had worked closely with Perez, said he was "devastated" in a social media post.

- The victims -

It is still unclear how many people were at the Jet Set on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

The venue holds 700 people seated and about 1,000 standing, with local media reporting that there were between 500 and 1,000 people in the club when the collapse occurred.

Retired Major League Baseball players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco were also among the dead, along with Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the Monte Cristi municipality.

- Previous disasters -

The Jet Set collapse was one of the biggest tragedies the Caribbean nation has faced in recent decades.

In 2023, about 40 people were killed in an explosion in San Cristobal, a half-hour drive from the capital Santo Domingo. Four buildings were destroyed and nine others were damaged.

And in 2005, more than 130 prisoners in the east of the country died in a fire caused by a fight between inmates.