FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — At a vast landfill in Sierra Leone 's capital of Freetown, smoke billows over decades of decomposing waste. Zainab sits there, squinting through the soot. It is her usual spot for buying kush, a cheap synthetic drug ravaging young people in the country.
“This kush is so addictive," she said. "If I don’t smoke, I feel sick.”
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Drugs users hug family members at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Men arrive in their dorm at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Drugs users wait to be assigned a dorm at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
HIV medication is prepared in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Young men eat their first meal after arriving at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Military check drugs users arriving for treatment at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Drugs users arrive at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Drugs users arrive at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Nurse Kadiatu Dumbuya stands outside her ward at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital where she treats women suffering from the effects of Kush in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Zainab Sakoteh sits in her room where she brings her clients for sex work that funds her Kush habit in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Marie Kamara prays for her two friends who died from Kush in the Waterloo Refugee Camp in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Khadija Lansana, right, and her mother Melda, stands outside her boyfriend's home in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Basiru Bah, a rehab center Ambassador, warns young drug takers against Kush in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Young boys some Kush at the Baghdad Den in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Young boys some Kush at the Baghdad Den in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
A boy rolls Kush at the Baghdad Den in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
A graffiti at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital reads "anybody that smokes Kush is a fool because it destroys your future" in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Zainab Sakoteh stands outside her home in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Rubbish pickers walk in the Kingtom landfill in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025, a place where addicts meet the cartel that provides them with Kush. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Zainab Sakoteh sits in the Kingtom landfill in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025, a place she frequents to meet the cartel that provide her with Kush. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Her current home, a shack of corrugated iron, contains only a tattered mattress where she brings her clients as a sex worker. She uses her income to sustain her drug addiction.
She is one of many women in Sierra Leone who, as a result of social factors that include living conditions and stigma, have not benefited from intervention efforts after the government a year ago declared a public health emergency over rampant kush abuse. The declaration was meant to enforce criminal, public health and prevention measures to reverse the trend in Sierra Leone, as kush spreads to other parts of West Africa. The drug has been seized in Gambia, Senegal and Guinea.
While officials say kush has become scarcer on the streets in Sierra Leone, critics say programs are still underfunded and inadequate.
Despite new criminal, public health and prevention measures, only about 300 people have gone through the country’s official rehab program, according to available data. Most have been men.
Women have been less visible in the crisis. Rights groups say they are historically left out.
Only one in 18 women with drug use disorders receive treatment compared to one in seven men, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The agency said women are usually more vulnerable to gender-based violence, economic discrimination and human rights violations.
The situation is not so different in Sierra Leone where various advocacy groups spoke about how women are not as visible as men in coming forward to receive support and often do not get adequate help. Far more men, though, use drugs compared to women, experts say.
Zainab said five years of smoking Kush has brought shame and isolation. She said no one has helped her, and spoke about days she gets so high that “I did not know what was happening around me.”
But she wants to stop for her children. One night while at work, flames engulfed their home with the two infants inside. They survived, but she entrusted them to an orphanage, haunted by the fire.
“I would love to hear my children call me mummy again,” she said, her scarred face breaking into a smile.
Kush is a depressant. Its short, intense effect often leaves users senseless. Symptoms of addiction range from sores to psychosis. Liver, kidney and respiratory problems are common.
The drug's evolving composition, low cost and widespread availability make it difficult to combat in Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest countries. A recent report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime earlier this year found that nearly half of kush samples tested contained opioids up to 25 times stronger than fentanyl. The drug's content were largely unknown before now, hindering response efforts, experts noted.
Kadiatu Koroma with the local Women for Women Foundation nonprofit said her organization has seen a rise in drug use among women and girls in recent years.
“When they are very drowsy … men will just come and take advantage,” she said. Left vulnerable after using the drug, the women “are impregnated and they don’t even know the men who did it.”
At Sierra Leone's Kissy Psychiatric Hospital, health workers described encountering 25 different strains of the drug in the wider Freetown area.
In one of two female wards, nurse Kadiatu Dumbuya said 90% of kush addicts she has attended to during her six years in the hospital have "sold their body” to feed the habit.
And yet, among the 50 people — majority of whom are kush users — who filed into one of Sierra Leone’s two government-run rehab centers on a recent day, only three were women.
Only 300 people have accessed the seven-week program at the Hasting Military Center since it opened in February 2024, guarded by the military and surrounded by barbed wire. Just 40 of the beneficiaries are women.
Officials say the program is gender-sensitive, with men and women separated by a fence. However, staff said stigma and family pressure mean women often deny their addictions and refrain from seeking support.
“In most cases, we have 10% of girls that come to our attention. That doesn’t mean the girls aren’t addicts … they feel shy in their communities,” said Ansu Konneh, who works with the Sierra Leone's Ministry of Social Welfare.
“It is a drop in the ocean,” he says.
Due to funding challenges, an ‘ambassador’ program for recovered addicts from the center has stalled, and admissions were halted for five months. When it resumed, some of the parents on the 2,000 person-long waiting list said their children had died.
Among those desperate for help was Melda Lansana, who said she visited the ministry several times to secure a rehab spot for her 18-year-old daughter, Khadija.
“When I was taking it, I couldn’t wash, I couldn’t take care of myself,” Khadija said, recalling the relief of the days spent in the center last August.
Without money for school, she struggles to get her life on track. Due to family tensions, she has chosen to live “on the streets” with her boyfriend.
She vows she’s clean. Her mother suspects she’s still using.
Progress against kush is slow, much like other parts of the world where the fight against synthetic drugs is often difficult.
Officials acknowledge the government has struggled to provide livelihood or business support to ease reintegration, particularly for beneficiaries without formal education - a step advocates say would help women.
Last year's emergency declaration, lauded by civil society, has helped shift the approach from punishment to care but the response is only "65% of what it should be,” said Habib Kamara, director of the Social Linkages For Youth Development And Child Link, a local nonprofit involved in the fight against drug use.
The organization is one of the few that have offered targeted support to female users, especially to vulnerable populations like sex workers, through community peer support, free family planning and beauty sessions to help build confidence.
“We have to meet the women where they are,” Kamara said.
Marie Kamara, 19, rejected kush for another drug - Tramadol, which experts have warned is also dangerous. She saw kush as too risky and was put off by her friends' stench and oozing sores.
One night, she said, she and her friend Yabu were chased by a kush dealer. Marie escaped. Yabu didn’t.
“They raped her … just because of kush,” Marie said.
Months later, Yabu died from the effects of the drug, Marie said — her second friend lost to kush.
“Let me not die like them," Marie said. "I pray.”
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Drugs users hug family members at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Men arrive in their dorm at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Drugs users wait to be assigned a dorm at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
HIV medication is prepared in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Young men eat their first meal after arriving at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Military check drugs users arriving for treatment at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Drugs users arrive at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Drugs users arrive at the Peace Mission Training rehab center in Hastings, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Nurse Kadiatu Dumbuya stands outside her ward at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital where she treats women suffering from the effects of Kush in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Zainab Sakoteh sits in her room where she brings her clients for sex work that funds her Kush habit in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Marie Kamara prays for her two friends who died from Kush in the Waterloo Refugee Camp in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Khadija Lansana, right, and her mother Melda, stands outside her boyfriend's home in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Basiru Bah, a rehab center Ambassador, warns young drug takers against Kush in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Young boys some Kush at the Baghdad Den in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Young boys some Kush at the Baghdad Den in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
A boy rolls Kush at the Baghdad Den in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
A graffiti at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital reads "anybody that smokes Kush is a fool because it destroys your future" in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Zainab Sakoteh stands outside her home in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Rubbish pickers walk in the Kingtom landfill in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025, a place where addicts meet the cartel that provides them with Kush. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
Zainab Sakoteh sits in the Kingtom landfill in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, March 13, 2025, a place she frequents to meet the cartel that provide her with Kush. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly)
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)
