ASSISI, Italy (AP) — With the upcoming canonization of its first millennial saint, the Catholic Church has turned to police in Italy to investigate the online sale of some purported relics of Carlo Acutis, who already has been drawing hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to his shrine.
Since the early days of the faith, many Catholics have prayed for intercession to saints’ relics — usually small parts of their body or clothing that are authenticated by ecclesiastical authorities and preserved in churches. But their sale is strictly forbidden.
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Amelia Simone, 18, a student from the United States, stands in front of the entrance of the Santa Maria Maggiore Church where the body of the 15-year-old Italian boy Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 and was beatified in 2020, is kept, in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino poses holding his book on Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, before a press conference in Rome, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Nuns walk past the Papal Basilica and Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Souvenirs of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed in a shop in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Souvenirs of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed in a shop in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A hair relic of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020 is shown to the Associated Press during an interview in Rome, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Amelia Simone, 18, a student from the United States poses with a banner reading "Not me but God" and a photo of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
People pray in front of the body of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
People pray in front of the body of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, in the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Amelia Simone, 18, a student from the United States, stands in front of the entrance of the Santa Maria Maggiore Church where the body of the 15-year-old Italian boy Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 and was beatified in 2020, is kept, in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Photos of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Souvenirs of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed in a shop in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Young boys pray in front of the heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, in the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Rev. Cristopher Pujol prays at the heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, at the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020 is shown at the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A man looks at the heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, at the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
“It’s not just despicable, but it’s also a sin,” said the Rev. Enzo Fortunato, who leads the Vatican’s World Children’s Day committee and has a tiny fragment of Acutis’ hair in a chapel by his office for veneration by visiting youth. “Every kind of commerce over faith is a sin.”
An anonymous seller had put up for online auction some supposedly authenticated locks of Acutis' hair that were fetching upward of 2,000 euros ($2,200 US), according to the Diocese of Assisi, before being taken down. Last month, Bishop Domenico Sorrentino asked authorities to confiscate the items and added that if fraudulent, the sale would constitute a “great offense to religious belief.”
Acutis died of leukemia in 2006, when he was only 15 but had already developed a precocious faith life centered on devotion to the Eucharist — which for Catholics holds the real presence of Christ. Savvy with technology, he had created an online exhibit about eucharistic miracles through the centuries.
He will formally be declared a saint at a Mass in front of the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica on April 27. Over the past year, about 1 million pilgrims have flocked to the central Italian town of Assisi, where his body — wearing sneakers, jeans, and a sweatshirt — lies in a shrine in a church dedicated to a key moment in the life of medieval hometown saint, St. Francis.
Acutis’ body was exhumed during the more-than-decade-long canonization process and treated so it could be preserved for public showing, including by removing certain organs. His face, which looks as if he were asleep, was reconstructed with a silicone mask, Sorrentino said.
Acutis’ heart has been preserved at a dedicated altar in another Assisi church; it will be taken to Rome for the canonization Mass.
“The relics are little, little fragments of the body, to say that that body is blessed, and it explains to us the closeness of God,” Sorrentino said.
There are different “classes” of relics — the most important are major body parts, such as the heart. Sorrentino gave Acutis' pericardium — the membrane enclosing the heart — to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2022 for the duration of its multi-year Eucharistic Revival.
The bishop in charge of the saint’s body works with requests from other bishops around the world to give or lend relics — always for free — to be exhibited for veneration at parishes and other churches.
“We give this to communities, to parishes, to priests using the relics for the cult in their parish,” Sorrentino said. “It’s not something magic. It’s not something that works automatically, it works through faith.”
The practice of gathering relics dates to the earliest days of the church, when many faithful Christians died as martyrs in religious persecutions. Witnesses to the killings would collect blood or fragments of clothing to memorialize their sacrifice and to pray for the saints’ intercession, Fortunato said.
In Acutis’ case, the first miracle in his canonization process was the healing of a boy in Brazil after a prayer service invoking his intercession with the presence of a relic, he added.
For clergy and pilgrims who have been visiting Acutis’ shrine in Assisi this week, the relics take second place to the example of faith and the power of assisting with prayer that saints provide.
“I would never buy one,” said Amelia Simone, an 18-year-old from Chicago who has been studying in Rome and credits Acutis for help smoothing out tricky visa paperwork. “I think the intercession aspect is very cool, but I don’t think I’d ever want to own a first-class relic. It just would feel a bit weird to me.”
Two clergy leading a Holy Year pilgrimage to Italy from the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, said it was “a great tragedy” that online relic sales were happening.
“We continue to pray for people’s conversion,” said the Rev. Christopher Pujol.
Bishop Larry Kulick added that relics “are very reverent and very solemn for us as Catholics. And they are not only inspirational for us, but they are really ... opportunities to help us to pray.”
“And so it’s unfortunate that such a thing would happen, because that’s really a misuse of the relics and actually a disrespect to him and to his memory,” he added.
Already, the uncommon devotion and attention that Acutis' canonization process has generated has been met with some skepticism. In hundreds of social media comments to a recent Associated Press article about the phenomenon, some called his sainthood a marketing ploy by the church to lure more young people back into the pews.
Many others — and those making pilgrimage to Assisi — praised Acutis for his devotion and were glad he’s become a role model for members of his generation.
“It's a joy for me to have encountered Carlo Acutis' body, and especially to ask for his intercession for the transformation and the conversion of many youth,” said Juana de Dios Euceda, a missionary nun from Honduras.
Dell'Orto reported from Miami.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino poses holding his book on Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, before a press conference in Rome, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Nuns walk past the Papal Basilica and Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Souvenirs of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed in a shop in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Souvenirs of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed in a shop in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A hair relic of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020 is shown to the Associated Press during an interview in Rome, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Amelia Simone, 18, a student from the United States poses with a banner reading "Not me but God" and a photo of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
People pray in front of the body of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
People pray in front of the body of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, in the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Amelia Simone, 18, a student from the United States, stands in front of the entrance of the Santa Maria Maggiore Church where the body of the 15-year-old Italian boy Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 and was beatified in 2020, is kept, in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Photos of Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Souvenirs of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, are displayed in a shop in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Young boys pray in front of the heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, in the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Rev. Cristopher Pujol prays at the heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, at the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020 is shown at the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A man looks at the heart relic of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old Italian boy who died in 2006 of leukemia and beatified in 2020, at the San Rufino Cathedral in Assisi, Italy, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A merengue icon, a baseball star and others killed when a cement roof collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic were buried Thursday, as authorities called off the search for bodies with the death toll at 221.
Mourners clad in black and white streamed into Santo Domingo’s National Theater, where the body of singer Rubby Pérez lay inside a closed coffin. Pérez had been performing on stage at the packed Jet Set club early Tuesday when dust began falling from the ceiling and, seconds later, the roof caved.
President Luis Abinader and first lady Raquel Arbaje arrived at the theater and stood beside Pérez's coffin for several minutes. Some mourners doubled over in tears as a recording of Pérez singing the national anthem played. Renowned Dominican musician Juan Luis Guerra was among those gathered to pay their respects.
Pérez, 69, had turned to music after a car accident left him unable to pursue his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. He was known for hits including “Volveré," which he sang with Wilfrido Vargas's orchestra, and “Buscando tus besos" as a solo artist.
After a five-hour memorial, mourners released dozens of white balloons outside the theater and spontaneously sang “Volveré” in unison. One woman put her hand over her heart and patted it as she cried.
At the cemetery, Zulinka Pérez, one of his daughters, said: “I knew he was loved but I never imagined this.”
Just blocks from the memorial for Pérez, heavy equipment began withdrawing from the site where Jet Set once stood and rescue crews packed up their equipment.
Meanwhile, a group of prosecutors arrived.
It is still unclear what caused the roof to collapse or when the building was last inspected. The government has said it will launch a thorough investigation, and the club’s owners have said they are cooperating with authorities.
Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations, broke down as he addressed reporters.
“Thank you, God, because today we accomplished the most difficult task I’ve had in 20 years,” he said, moving the microphone away from his face as he cried. Other officials patted him on the back as he continued, “Please forgive me,” before passing the microphone to an army official.
Officials said 189 people were rescued alive from the rubble. More than 200 were injured, with 23 of them still hospitalized, including eight in critical condition.
“If the trauma is too great, there’s not a lot of time” left to save patients in that condition, said Health Minister Víctor Atallah. He and other doctors said some of the injured suffered fractures to the skull, femur and pelvis.
Many people have been anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones, growing frustrated with the drip-drip of information provided by hospitals and the country’s forensic institute.
At least 146 bodies have been identified, authorities said Thursday.
María Luisa Taveras told TV station Noticias SIN that she was looking for her sister.
“We have gone everywhere they have told us,” she said, her voice breaking.
Taveras said the family has spread out, with a relative stationed at each hospital and at the National Institute of Forensic Pathology. Dozens of people waited at the institute Thursday, wearing face masks and complaining about the smell as they demanded the release of their loved ones' bodies.
“The odor is unbearable,” said Wendy Sosa, who has been waiting since Wednesday morning for the body of her cousin, 61-year-old Nilka Curiel González. Sosa told The Associated Press by phone that the situation there was “chaotic,” and that officials had set up a refrigerated container to handle the volume of bodies being delivered.
She wept as she described her cousin as gracious, authentic, and “very empathetic."
Victims identified so far include former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera; and Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi whose brother is seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz.
Dotel was buried Thursday in Santo Domingo. Hundreds of people attended his wake on Wednesday, including Hall of Famer David Ortiz, formerly of the Boston Red Sox. Ortiz said the number of people who attended Dotel’s wake spoke volumes.
“He was a person whom everyone loved,” Ortiz told reporters. “It’s very hard, very hard, truly.”
MLB Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez attended another wake Thursday.
“There are no words to describe the pain we are all feeling,” said Martínez, adding that he knew more than 50 of those who died. “Life is but a breath.”
Also killed was a retired United Nations official; saxophonist Luis Solís, who was playing onstage when the roof fell; New York-based fashion designer Martín Polanco; the son and daughter-in-law of the minister of public works; the brother of the vice minister of the Ministry of Youth; and three employees of Grupo Popular, a financial services company, including the president of AFP Popular Bank and his wife.
More than 20 victims came from Haina, Rubby Pérez's hometown, just southwest of Santo Domingo.
The governor held a communal wake, setting up 10 stands for coffins beneath a banner that read: “Haina bids farewell to her beloved children with immense sorrow.”
Among the mourners was Juancho Guillén, who lost his wife three months ago and whose brother, sister and brother-in-law died at Jet Set.
“This family is in shock, is devastated," he told Noticias SIN. "We’re practically dead too.”
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Family and friends attend the funeral of Marilenny Pilarte who died at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed, in Haina, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Funeral home personnel move the casket of Octavio Dotel, a former MLB baseball player who died at the Jet Set nightclub where more than 200 people were killed when its roof collapsed, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers stand at site of the Jet Set nightclub days after its roof collapsed during a concert, killing more than 200 people in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Family members mourn during the memorial of Octavio Dotel, a former MLB baseball player who died at the Jet Set nightclub where more than 200 people were killed when its roof collapsed, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, front right ands his wife Raquel Arbaje Soni, front left, attend the wake of Dominican singer Rubby Perez who died in the roof collapse at the Jet Set nightclub during his merengue concert, at the Eduardo Brito National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Relatives carry the coffin that contain the remains of Marilenny Pilarte who died at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed, during a burial service at a cemetery in Haina, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Family and friends grieve during the burial service for Marilenny Pilarte who died at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed, in Haina, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Family and friends attend the burial service for Marilenny Pilarte who died at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed, in Haina, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Family and friends attend the funeral of Marilenny Pilarte who died at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed, in Haina, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An excavator works at the site of the Jet Set nightclub days after its roof collapsed during a concert, killing more than 200 people in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A person is comforted before identifying the body of a family member who died at the Jet Set nightclub, days after its roof collapsed during a concert and killed more than 200 people, outside the National Institute of Forensic Pathology in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Mourners attend a memorial for Rubby Perez, the merengue singer who was performing at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed, killing more than 200 people, at the National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers stand at site of the Jet Set nightclub days after its roof collapsed during a concert, killing more than 200 people in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers stand at the Jet Set nightclub days after its roof collapsed, killing more than 200 people in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, center right, and his wife Raquel Arbaje Soni speak with the family of Dominican singer Rubby Perez who died in the roof collapse at the Jet Set nightclub while performing in concert, during the wake at the Eduardo Brito National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Workers prepare a crane on the third day of rescue efforts at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Dominican singer Juan Luis Guerra, left, attends a wake of Rubby Perez, the merengue singer who was performing at the Jet Set nightclub when its roof collapsed, killing more than 200 people, at the National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An excavator removes concrete at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed three nights before during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Zulinka, center, the daughter of Dominican singer Rubby Perez who died in the roof collapse at the Jet Set nightclub during his merengue concert, cries during his wake at the Eduardo Brito National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
The hat and sunglasses of Dominican singer Rubby Perez, who died in the roof collapse at the Jet Set nightclub during his merengue concert, sit on his casket during his wake at the Eduardo Brito National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An image of victim Nelsy Cruz, governor of Montecristi, is seen at a makeshift vigil for the victims of the Jet Set club roof collapse, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Rescue workers carry the recovered body of a victim who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
Soldiers prepare to assist with security during the rescue effort at Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
A poster of victim Rubby Perez is seen at a makeshift vigil for the victims of the Jet Set club roof collapse in the Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People attend a Mass for the victims of the Jet Set club roof collapse, at St. Elizabeth's Church, Wednesday, April 9, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People attend a Mass for the victims of the Jet Set club roof collapse at St. Elizabeth's Church, Wednesday, April 9, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People pray for their missing relatives outside Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
Rescue workers carry the recovered body of a victim who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
Rescue workers search for bodies at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers search for bodies at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers carry the recovered body of a victim who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers search for bodies at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers carry the recovered body of a victim in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025 who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A man sleeps on bottles of water in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in front of the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed during a merengue concert. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers carry the recovered body of a victim who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People who spent all night at the site of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025, continue to wait for news of survivors after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Rescue workers carry the recovered body of a victim in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, April 10, 2025 who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Women cry during the search for survivors at the Jet Set nightclub after its roof collapsed two nights prior during a merengue concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
Family members wait to identify the remains of their loved who died when the roof collapsed at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert, in a parking lot of the National Institute of Forensic Pathology in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, (AP Photo/Marvin Del Cid)
Rescue workers stand next to a recovered body of a victim who died when the roof collapsed two nights prior at the Jet Set nightclub during a merengue concert, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
