Using heavy machinery, drones, dogs and dozens of rescuers, officials worked frantically Tuesday to find survivors of a deadly roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic, where the authorities said at least 79 people died.
The collapse happened during a concert at Jet Set, a popular nightclub whose Monday night dance party was a decades-old tradition frequented by a who’s who of Dominican society, many of whom were still trapped inside.
Among those either killed or injured were a governor, a member of the Dominican Republic’s congress and two former U.S. Major League Baseball players.
Officials said they were focused on rescues and had not yet begun to investigate the cause of the tragedy. The building, a former movie theater, was at least 50 years old and had been the scene of a fire several years ago.
The authorities said it was unclear how many people were inside at the time of the collapse. Victims were still being pulled from the rubble, alive and dead.
With each grim update, the death toll climbed.
Some people received phone calls from relatives trapped inside, Juan Manuel Méndez, the director of the Emergency Operations Center, said in an Instagram video shared by the national police.
“We are taking out the people we can rescue alive,” Mr. Méndez said. “You can hear people asking to be helped.”
In a series of social media posts, officials said rescuers made at least 155 trips to local hospitals.
So many people were injured that ambulances initially had to carry two or three to the hospital at a time, Mr. Méndez said.
Jet Set, which has been open for more than 45 years, is one of the most famous clubs in the Dominican Republic. It is especially well known for its Monday shows, a staple of live music in the city.
Anxious family members gathered at the scene under a blazing sun, desperate for news of their loved ones. Some people said they had up to seven relatives missing following the disaster.
Among those at the nightclub was Nelsy M. Cruz Martínez, the governor of the Dominican province Monte Cristi, an area in the northwest of the country near the border with Haiti.
Ms. Cruz called President Luis Abinader at 12:49 a.m., while she was trapped in the rubble, the first lady, Raquel P. Arbaje, told reporters at the scene.
Ms. Cruz died later in a hospital, Mr. Abinader said outside the club Tuesday morning.
“We deeply regret the tragedy that occurred at the Jet Set nightclub,” Mr. Abinader said on X. “We have been following the incident minute by minute since it occurred.”
Octavio Dotel, 51, a former pitcher in the Major Leagues, was pulled from the rubble and taken to an area hospital. He later died, the Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic announced.
Another former major league baseball player, Tony Blanco, also died, the commissioner of Major League Baseball confirmed in a statement.
Several members of the Dominican Congress were thought to have been inside the club, and several lawmakers went to the site.
Carlos J. Gil Rodríguez, who represents Santo Domingo in congress, was injured and required emergency surgery, his office said. His wife was injured and released from the hospital, but his two assistants who were also at the event have not been found.
“My dear brother!” one woman screamed upon learning that her sibling had not survived.
Another woman, Yeheris Ventura, sobbed as she described the anxiety of not hearing from her husband, Gálver Silvestre, who was at the club and whose name was not among the list of survivors or the dead that had been circulated.
Monday’s show featured Rubby Pérez, a merengue singer.
Videos circulating on social media and verified by The New York Times showed Mr. Pérez performing before a group of revelers. The camera began shaking and people started screaming as a large chandelier dropped from the ceiling.
Another video, filmed in the aftermath and also verified by The Times, captured the extensive destruction, showing that almost the entire roof had collapsed, with rubble covering the stage and dance floor as rescuers searched the wreckage.
Although the authorities had announced that the singer was at hospital, one of his siblings said those reports were incorrect and that the entertainer remained in the rubble, 14 hours after the collapse. Mr. Pérez has not been located, Mr. Méndez confirmed late Tuesday afternoon.
The son of the country’s public works minister and his wife were also still missing, the authorities said.
“But we hope in God and pray for favorable outcomes,” the minister, Eduardo Estrella, said in a statement.
The commissioner of Major League Baseball, Robert D. Manfred, Jr., released a statement offering condolences for the death of Ms. Cruz and the two former players, noting that Ms. Cruz was the sister of Nelson Cruz, a longtime player and the league’s current special adviser to baseball operations.
“The connection between baseball and the Dominican Republic runs deep, and we are thinking of all the Dominican players and fans across the game today,” he said.
Carlos Mendoza Díaz, president of the Dominican Association of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors, said the Jet Set building was decades old and had recently been damaged.
“We have gathered information that it was not only a structure over 50 years old, built for a movie theater and later converted into a nightclub, and obviously these are different safety parameters,” he said. “We also know that a fire occurred a few years ago, and perhaps the combination of these events could have caused the collapse.”
Nader Ibrahim, Amelia Nierenberg and Jonathan Wolfe contributed reporting.
