Lung weather The Great Leagues Baseball launcher Octavio Dotel and former MLB player Tony Blanco are among those who died after a Ceiling collapse in a nightclub Tuesday in the capital of the Dominican Republic. At least 221 people died and Hugdeds were more injured when the roof collapsed in the Jet Set nightclub, authorities said. The rescue teams were still looking for possible survivors of the rubble.
The Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic confirmed that Dotel died after the roof of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo collapsed a performance by the Merengue singer Rubby Pérez around 1 in the Testday morning. Pérez also died in the collapse, his representative confirmed to CBS News.
“The Baseball Professional League of the Dominican Republic (Lidom) expresses its pain for the death of the former pitcher, Octavio Dotel, who was immortalized by the Dominican sports pavilion,” the league said in a social media post.
Dotel, 51, was originally from Santo Domingo and played for 13 MLB teams approximately 15 seasons from 1999 to 2013. He signed with the New York Mets and was changed to the Houston stars in 2000, where he stayed for five seasons. Chicago went to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Luis cardinals and finished their MLB career with Detroit’s tigers. He won a World Series Championship with the Cardinals in 2011.
The Ministry of Sports and Recreation of the Dominican Republic confirmed the death of Blanco in a statement on Tuesday.
“We deeply regret the death of the former Baseball player of the Major Leagues Tony Blanco,” the group said in a publication on social networks. “His legacy will live in the history of national baseball. We share his complaint with his family, friends and wheat, and we sacrifice our prayers for his eternal rest.”
Blanco, 44, was born in San Juan de la Maguana, the Dominican Republic. He was a man and third -base man and gardener, playing minor leagues baseball in the United States for eight years. He made the MLB with Washington’s nationals in 2005. He played for the last time in Japan for Orix Buffaloes, a professional baseball team in Nippon, in 2016.
Nelsy Cruz, sister of the seven-time All-Star of the MLB Nelson Cruz and the governor of Montecristi, a northwest province in the Dominican Republic, was also among those killed in the roof collapse, the Cruz family said on an Instagram post.
Associated Press reports that Nelsy Cruz had called president shortly after the collapse that said he was caught and that the roof had collapsed, the first lady Raquel Abraje told journalists. The authorities said he later died in the hospital.
The MLB Commissioner, Robert Manfred Jr., said in a statement that the MLB “is deeply sad for the passes” of Dotel, Blanco and Cruz.
“We send our most sincere condolences to the families and friends of all who have the legs affected already our Nelson Salsa League and their whole family,” said Manfred. “The connection between baseball and the Dominican Republic is deep, and we are thinking of all Dominican players and fans throughout the game today.”
Major Legching Pitching Leagues and Pitching Legend of Boston’s Red Sox Pedro MartínezThat is the American Dominican, he says that he has relatives who were in the club and do not contain after the collapse.
“I still have relatives who are still in the [rubble] And we do not know what happened to them, but only us because to be strong, as we always have the leg, “Martínez said in a video posted in his social media accounts.
“We are all sad, we are all affected by the tragedy,” he said. “We are a country that prays a lot and remains linked all the time.”
Martínez has maintained strong ties with the country, raising money to help Dominican children through the Pedro Martínez Foundation and build a state -of -the -art autonomous school that will open in 2026.
Neal Riley,
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Contributed to this report.