Authorities late on Wednesday said the death toll from the devastating roof collapse at a popular nightclub in the capital of the Dominican Republic has hit 184, stating that the search for survivors has turned increasingly grim.
DAILY POST reports that the nightclub collapsed on Tuesday, and for two days, families have gathered outside the wreckage of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo, anxious for information about their missing relatives and sharing photos with police.
The head of the country's emergency operations center, Juan Manuel Mendez, said at a press conference that they would not abandon anybody.
Mendez added that emergency crews would continue to work until the last body was found, stressing that hopes of finding more survivors under the rubble were diminishing, as no one had been pulled out alive in more than 24 hours.
Presidential spokesperson Homero Figueroa, in a statement, said in the coming hours there would be a transition from the search and rescue phase to the recovery of the bodies phase.
Earlier on Wednesday, authorities reported that 155 people had been rescued from the rubble and transferred to hospitals.
