On April 14, residents of the Bronx met in Lou Gehrig Plaza to commemorate the more than 220 lost lives in the collapse of the ceiling of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, which occurred on April 8.
Hundreds of mourners – accompanied by more than a dozen local elected officials and representatives of the Dominican government – lit candles and waved flags in honor of the victims. The Bronx, where more than 20% of the population is of Dominican origin, sympathized while the participants prayed for those who enjoyed a live presentation of the Rubby Pérez merenguero when the ceiling collapsed in the early morning. The disaster left at least 226 dead and 150 injured.
Among the victims were the resident of the Bronx Manny Díaz, the former Yankees Octavio Dotel, and the detective retired from the 49th of the New York Police, Emmanuel Gómez.
“These names are not just headlines … They are our family,” said County President Vanessa Gibson. “To all our families that are mourning, we raise them in prayer.”
Prior to the event, Governor Kathy Hochul ordered to illuminate emblematic buildings of the state with the white, red and blue colors of the Dominican flag, and that the US flags will wave half asea in honor of the victims.
Common people lost their lives in what should be a night of music and recreation, Hochul said during the vigil. “They gathered to get out of their routine and spend a good night,” when the tragedy hit without prior notice, reminding us how fragile life is, he said.
With more than one million Dominicans living in the state of New York, the tragedy feels both inside and outside the community, said Hochul. “His pain is our pain.”
Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who represents parts of Alto Manhattan and Bronx, and was the first Dominican in Congress, said that the United States and the Dominican Republic are united by “an umbilical cord that has not been cut.”
Throughout the natural and human tragedies that have affected the Dominican Republic, “on the way we find friends who stayed by our side,” said Espaillat.
Some elected officials pointed out that what happened in Jet Set has a similarity with disasters in the Bronx, such as the partial collapse of the six -story building in 1915 Billingsley Terrace in December 2023, where there were no fatal victims miraculously.
They also remembered the Twin Parks fire in 2022 that charged 17 lives and the fire of the Happy Land social club in 1990, where 87 people died.
Assemblyman Landon Dais, whose wife is Dominican, said that friends of his mother -in -law who were in Jet Set that night are still hospitalized, and her 20 -year -old daughter died. Dais also mentioned that he trained baseball next to the NYPD detective who lost his life in the tragedy.
“Bronx feels intensely the pain of this tragedy,” he said. “These families should not be mourning, because this could have been avoided.”
Councilor Pierina Sánchez, president of the Housing and Buildings Committee, commented that she has talked with the Dominican government about structural integrity problems. Looking ahead, he said: “We have to learn and do better. We have to save lives.”
With the search for victims completed, researchers now work to determine the cause of collapse. At least one family would have filed a lawsuit against club owners.
A publication in the Instagram account of the Jet Set club described the situation as “unexpected and painful.”
“At this difficult time, our prayers are with each of the affected families,” said the publication. “We share their pain as if it were ours, because we are also mourning. We are collaborating full and transparently with the relevant authorities to attend the victims and clarify what happened.”
Mayor Eric Adams traveled to the Dominican Republic from April 13 to 15 to visit the place and meet with relatives of the victims and lifeguards. Councilor Rafael Salamanca Jr., who represents parts of the southern Bronx, joined the delegation.
After touring the rubble on April 14, Adams declared: “I have a shattered heart. And I will never forget the images I saw here.”
“I trust God. There are things we don’t understand,” he added. “But we must transform this pain into purpose. And as a mayor, I promise to do everything possible to prevent something like that again. We owe that to those we lost.”
The delegation – which also included the commissioner of the Department of Transportation of NYC, Ydanis Rodríguez, the ViceAlcaldesa of strategic initiatives Ana Almanzar, Fernando Radhamés Rodríguez, president of United Bodega of America, and the restaurant of the Bronx Junior Martínez – evaluated ways in which individual New Yorkers and the city in general can help the families of the victims in their recovery.
The coalition of Latin social workers has established a confidential support line for those who need mental health, in English or Spanish, after the tragedy in Jet Set: (212) 684-3264.
