Dominican Republic club collapse survivor recounts being buried under dead bodies for hours: ‘So many people calling for help’
A battered survivor of the tragic roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic that killed 225 partygoers recounted the horror of being buried under rubble and dead bodies for nearly six hours.
Patricia Ovalles said from her hospital bed that she somehow managed to get off a frantic call to her ex in the New York City while still buried alive, convinced she would not survive the ordeal, she told Univision.
“I heard a cell phone ring from another person, but he was dead,” Ovalles said. “He had his hand on top of me, and he was dead because he had the light [from the phone] on his face
“I looked and found the phone and called New York, and told my son’s father, ‘Please, protect my son. Don’t tell him anything. Protect my son, protect my father, protect my mamma,” she recalled. “I don’t want God to let me die because I don’t want my son to see me dead.
“There were so many people calling for help. ‘Help me, help me.’ And people dead on top of me.”
Ovalles recalled water raining down on the dance floor before the roof caved in — and the heart-wrenching moment when singer Rubby Perez began singing a song to his daughter, moments before the tragedy.
It started when dust began falling from the ceiling, she told the outlet.
“I kept looking, but Rubby Perez said, ‘It’s sand,’ and he covered his face,” Ovalles said. “His daughter said, ‘Papi, let’s go.’ He said, ‘No, I’m going to continue.’ The song was for her that he was going to sing for her. She told him, ‘I don’t feel well,’ but he sang it.
“It was all too fast,” she said. “Everything was destroyed. Everything. A lot of people, ‘Help me, I’m here.”
The tragedy at the Jet Set nightclub shocked the Caribbean nation, leaving at least 225 dead — including Perez, a popular performer, and former major leaguers Tony Blanco and Octavio Dotel, a former New York Met who went on to win the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Follow the latest on the tragic roof collapse at a Dominican Republic nightclub:
- Terrifying moment Dominican Republic nightclub’s roof collapses, killing 113 and trapping dozens
- Dominican Republic nightclub collapse that killed 231 likely caused by ‘excess weight’: experts
- Singer Rubby Pérez, who performed at Dominican Republic nightclub during roof collapse, declared dead
- MLB world mourns Octavio Dotel, Tony Blanco after deaths in nightclub tragedy: ‘Heartbroken’
Also killed was Nelsy Cruz, the governor of Montecristi province and the sister of former major league slugger Nelson Cruz.
Ovalles said the dead were all around her as she lay trapped under a column as wide as her hospital bed — until rescue workers finally got to her early the following morning.
“[One rescuer] took off his coat and threw it over me,” she said. “He said, ‘You were born today. This is your date.’ His tears fell on me.
“They told me, ‘You survived.’ Thank God. You have a reason to live.”
