Weeks after the roof collapse at the Dominican Republic nightclub that killed 231 people and injured hundreds more, the club’s owner and manager shared his remorse for the tragedy in a public apology, wherein he said he plans to “face everything” in the legal proceedings to follow.
Last week, in an exclusive interview on “El Dia,” a television show on Dominican CNN affiliate Telesistema Dominicano, Jet Set owner Antonio Espaillat said six air conditioning units on the venue’s roof had leaked through the building’s plaster ceiling panels for decades, which were routinely reinforced with plasterboard.
According to Espaillat, club staff patched the roof just hours before the collapse on April 8, when more than 500 people were inside attending a show by merengue artist Rubby Pérez. In the following days, 189 survivors were rescued from the rubble, per BBC News.
It remains unclear whether the leaking air conditioning units were the cause of the collapse, and Espaillat said he is cooperating with an ongoing investigation by authorities. He added that in the 30 years he has owned Jet Set, the club’s roof and A/C units had not been inspected.
The Dominican Republic does not currently have a government office dedicated to building inspections for private businesses, though President Luis Abander announced the week after the tragedy that new legislation is expected to change this, according to ABC 7.
In the wake of at least three lawsuits from victims’ families, a process expected to take several months, Espaillat told Telesistima, translated from Spanish, “I’m going to face everything. I’m not going anywhere.”
“If this could have been avoided, I would have done just that to avoid it because my sister was there. My mom was always there,” Espaillat said later, translated from Spanish. “To the families of the victims, I want to say I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. I am completely destroyed.”
Watch Espaillat’s full interview with Telesistema Dominicana here.
Featured image credit: Noticias Sin via AP.
