Expert report presented by the Espaillat family attributes Jet Set tragedy to structural failures and progressive deterioration

Santo Domingo. The counter-expertise presented by the Espaillat siblings, Antonio and Maribel, concludes that the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub’s roof, which occurred on April 8, 2025, and left 236 dead and more than 180 injured, was caused by a gradual deterioration of the structure and hidden construction defects, contradicting the official version of the Public Ministry. The forensic expert report, authorized by Judge Raymundo Mejía, maintains that the tragedy was not the result of an overload or increase in weight on the structure, as the authorities have suggested, but of a progressive process of internal deterioration that compromised the stability of the building for years. According to the document, dated May 14, 2026, the collapse occurred due to a combination of undetected construction failures and the accumulated wear and tear of essential structural elements, factors that, according to experts, ultimately caused the roof to collapse. The evaluation was carried out by an international team made up of more than 25 specialists in structural engineering, chemistry, materials science, and forensic analysis. The group was coordinated by engineers José Manuel Lockhart Romero and Gabriel Carrera, along with Dr. Alfonso Francisco Ibarreta and Michael Gerard Murphy.

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The findings presented by the defense of the nightclub owners differ from the conclusions of the official expert report presented by the Public Ministry, which could become a central point of the judicial process seeking to establish responsibilities for one of the most serious tragedies recorded in the Dominican Republic. The case continues in the courts while the authorities and the parties involved analyze the results of both technical reports to determine the definitive causes of the collapse and the possible criminal and civil liabilities arising from the event.