Kelvin Espinal spent three days this week at the Santo Domingo Morgue.
His cousin, Yadhira Elaine Estévez Serrano, was among 221 people who died when the roof collapsed in the early Tuesday at the Jet nightclub in the capital of the Dominican Republic. Her cousin, who was more like a sister, died the day before the 42nd anniversary.
And like dozens of other families, Mr. Espinal did not yet have to receive the body of his loved one for burial.
« We spent all day on Tuesday, until 12 pm, » said Mr. Espinal on Thursday afternoon. « We were here all day Wednesday and today. »
Authorities of the Dominican Republic ended the search for bodies trapped in the Jet Set nightclub, where a roof collapsed during a concert, killing 221 people. 189 additional people were rescued from the rubble.
The Emergency Operations Center delivered the site to the Prosecutor’s Office to collect the investigation. The hard part is coming now: to find out what caused the roof of an old 50 -year -old movie theater, just as hundreds of people had gathered for a concert.
The roof was reduced early on Tuesday to Jet Set, a well -known nightclub in Santo Domingo, Monday live music nights were a popular decades tradition among politicians, athletes and business class. A governor died, as did two former basketball players in the Major League and a prominent family of bankers.
The body of the Merengue singer acting, Rubby Pérez, He was removed from the wreck on Wednesday morning. So many of his fans in his hometown, Haina, a city outside the capital, were at his concert that a collective stele was held in a local recreation center.
Although officials had repeatedly rejected saying how many people were inside the club, on Thursday morning they said that everyone had been counted.
« These numbers sad the country, » said Juan Manuel Méndez, the director of the Emergency Operations Center, when making the announcement. « The Dominican family cries. »
After several days of repeated information from the media, day and night, Mr. Méndez stopped for almost a minute and broken down.
« Thank you, sir, because today we have concluded the hardest task I have had in twenty years, heading the operation center, » he said in the tears. « I apologize, because every time a person denounced a member of the missing family, we filled with helplessness knowing that the person was still trapped and that we could not reach them. »
The companions consolidated Mr. Méndez and passed the microphone to others to finish the press conference.
Officials offered praise for a timely and exhaustive search.
José Luis from Herasme, who runs the city’s fire department, said that some rescue workers had been in the place for 53 hours in a row.
« I have never seen anything like this for all the time I have been doing different types of rescues, » said Mr. Frometa. « The lifeguards are satisfied with a job well done, knowing that we were able to rescue 189 people injured in record time. This is a blessing for lifeguards. »
Victor E. ATALALH, the Minister of Health, assured families that their relatives had not suffered.
« I want to reiterate that for the well -being of the families that the time we were here passed in the most efficient and human way possible, » said Allah. « Most, and I say it from the heart, died instantly. »
But family members said they had encountered a logjam of people trying to remove victims from the Morga.
Yeimy Aquino’s family, who had four children, was trying to confirm that his body was in the medical office. Her husband, Juan Francisco Peña, described how Mrs. Aquino was hanging with friends near the stage where Mr. Pérez performed.
Like the others, he and his family took more than 24 hours to La Morga.
The Institute of Forensic Pathology, as the Morga is called, said that it had received 220 bodies on Thursday morning, of which 146 had been identified. Medical examiners were « working tirelessly » for autopsies and comparing biometric data with voter rolls, the agency said in a statement.
« We understand the emergency and we will use the necessary resources to provide a timely response », Said the office.
The club’s representatives refused to say how many tickets were sold for the concert Monday night. The nightclub had a capacity of 700 to 1,000 and was especially popular on Monday night.
Mr. Méndez said that officials had triangulated the number of tickets sold with the number of people in Morga and local hospitals.
Wednesday night the authorities said the lifeguards had « All reasonable possibilities were exhausted« Finding anyone living and the operation had officially passed from the search and rescue to the recovery of the bodies.
« This is very bad, » said Méndez.
In a brief telephone interview with the New York Times, Mr. Méndez said there were no missing people.
« There is not a single body, » said Mr. Méndez. « We have combed the whole area. »
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