Dominican president attends ceremony for nightclub disaster victims
HAINA, Undefined (AFP) — Hundreds of Dominicans, including President Luis Abinader and MLB star David Ortiz, attended a ceremony Sunday honoring victims of the April 8 nightclub roof collapse, the Caribbean nation’s deadliest disaster in recent decades.
The ceremony took place in a sports hall in Haina, a town on the outskirts of Santo Domingo, about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the Jet Set nightclub where the tragedy took place. Twenty-five of the 226 victims were originally from Haina.
Among them were merengue star Rubby Perez, who was performing on stage at the time of the roof collapse, and Tony Blanco, a baseball player who had played professionally in the United States and Japan.
The ceremony organizers placed a black ribbon on the shirts of the attendees, almost all of whom were dressed in black or white.
“Memorial ceremony for the children of our province,” read a poster in the hall, which also hosted a mass funeral on Thursday.
Retired baseball star Ortiz, nicknamed “Big Papi,” a three-time World Series winner and Hall of Fame member, gave an emotional speech.
“This is one of the most tragic and difficult times in the Dominican Republic. I spend my time going from funeral to funeral,” he said, in tears.
Ana Peguero, 36, lost both her father — who had come to see his childhood friend Perez perform — and her stepmother.
“It’s been too hard, too disastrous, sad, heartbreaking,” she told AFP, still in shock.
She said she remembered going with her father to a Perez concert last July.
“They were very good friends, they grew up together and whenever he had the chance, we went to see him,” she said.
On two TV screens, photos and names of the victims flashed by. Families and some survivors held up white roses.
“We are grieving, overwhelmed,” said the pastor. “Help us, Lord, to be able to move forward.”
The six days of mourning decreed by Abinader end on Sunday.
The roof collapse’s toll surpasses that of the 136 inmates who died in a 2005 prison fire in the eastern city of Higuey.
