Owner of the Dominican nightclub whose roof collapsed and killed 236 people arrested

The owner of a nightclub in the Dominican Republic, whose The roof collapsed in April and killed 236 peoplehe was arrested Thursday along with his sister.

Antonio Espaillat and Maribel Espaillat have not been accused in the case, although the authorities have 48 hours to present any position before a judge.

“Both defendants showed immense irresponsibility and negligence by not physically intervene to prevent the club from being collapsed, as he finally did, causing 236 deaths and more than 180 injuries,” said the Office of the Attorney General of the Dominican Republic in a statement.

The prosecutors accused the Espaillats of trying to intimidate or manipulate the company’s employees, adding that they could serve as witnesses in the case.

A Spanish lawyer could not be contacted immediately to comment.

The Espaillats were arrested after being interrogated for several hours.

A committee designated by the government that includes international experts is still investigating what caused the roof to collapse.

In An interview At the end of April, Espaillat said his family has operated the building for about 30 years. Since then, he said that no engineer, architect or state authority had conducted a structural review of the structure, but claimed that the city firefighters and officials inspected for basic security and licenses problems.

Espaillat said that it is not common for companies in the area to undergo structural inspections.

The teams worked for 53 hours without stopping after arriving at the scene in Santo Domingo shortly after midnight on April 8, rescuing 189 survivors.

After collapse, the club said the tragedy “has deeply hit the hearts of all of us who are part of Jet Set and all the Dominicans.

The victims included the beloved singer Rubby Pérez, who acted when the roof collapsed, and Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the province of Montecristi and sister of the seven-time All-Star of the Major Leagues Nelson Cruz.

Also murdered he was previous MLB launcher Octavio Dotelwho was taken from the rubble but died in a hospital, and the Dominican baseball player Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera.

Other victims include a retired official from the UN, New York fashion designer Martín Polanco, an army captain who left four young people and three employees of Grupo Popular, a financial services company, including the president of News Popular Bank and his wife.

The club, which had operated for almost five decades, was known for its meringue parties on Monday night that attracted high -profile international and Dominican celebrities.

• Dominican Republic
• Accusation