Owner of collapsed Dominican Republic nightclub breaks silence and reveals years of problems before tragedy left 232 dead
A roof that collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic and killed 232 people this month had filtration problems for decades and had been repeatedly fixed with plasterboard, according to its owner.Antonio Espaillat, who also serves as manager of the Jet Set nightclub in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, spoke with local TV station Telesistema on Wednesday in his first interview since the April 8 disaster.Espaillat told a reporter with El Día news program that employees had added new plasterboard to the roof hours before the collapse.He noted that plasterboard had fallen repeatedly throughout the years for reasons including water that filtered through the club’s air conditioning units.However, Espaillat said no one ever inspected the roof or water filtrations.“We always bought plasterboard.
Always,” said Espaillat, who spoke in a subdued manner throughout the nearly one-hour interview.A spokeswoman for Espaillat did not return a message for comment seeking an interview with him.Espaillat said he learned about the collapse when his sister called him from underneath the debris, trapped along with hundreds of others attending a concert by beloved merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was among those killed.“To the families of the victims, I want to say I’m sorry.I’m very sorry,” Espaillat said.
“I am completely destroyed.”Espaillat said he was 6 years old when his mother founded the legendary club 52 years ago.The club later moved to a space occupied by a shuttered movie theater and remained in that location for 30 years until the collapse.He said there were six air-conditioning units on the roof, plus three water tanks.
An electric plant was installed in an adjacent room, not on the roof, he added.Every six to eight years, a specialized crew would waterproof the roof, with the last waterproofing done about a month before the collapse, he said.The heavy woofers that boomed music at Jet Set, known for its merengue parties held...