A second former Major League Baseball (MLB) star has died in the Dominican Republic nightclub collapse.

The ceiling at the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo caved in at 12.44am local time on Tuesday, crushing those inside. More than 60 people have been confirmed dead, including Tony Blanco, who played professional baseball for Washington Nationals as well as the Chunichi Dragons and the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

Blanco, 44, also played the sport in Japan in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, before retiring in 2016. His 19-year-old son, Tony Blanco Jr, is a league player for the Bradenton Marauders, after being signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2022.

Baseball World Series winner Octavio Dotel also died after the roof collapse in Santo Domingo, which, in addition to the dozens killed, has injured more than 160 people.

Earlier on Tuesday, Dotel, 51, was reported as having been rescued from the rubble after screaming for help. However, Dotel’s brother Angel told El Nuevo Diario newspaper that he died before being pulled from underneath the debris.

“They told us he was alive, but in reality he was dead, since last night. It is not true that he died on the way… The blow hit him on the head and it seems that it broke his neck,” Angel said on Tuesday.

Crews continue to search for potential survivors at the iconic nightclub, popular with politicians, athletes and other stars. Firefighters removed blocks of broken concrete and used sawed pieces of wood as planks to lift heavy debris as the noise of drills breaking through concrete filled the air in the early hours of the morning there.

And relatives of merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing when the roof collapsed, initially said that he had been rescued, but Méndez said later Tuesday that wasn’t true. He said rescue crews were still looking for Pérez.

Reacting to the deaths of Dotel and Blanco, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said: “Major League Baseball is deeply saddened by the passings of Octavio Dotel, Tony Blanco, Nelsy Cruz, and all the victims of last night’s tragedy in Santo Domingo. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all those who have been affected and to our colleague Nelson and his entire family. The connection between baseball and the Dominican Republic runs deep, and we are thinking of all the Dominican players and fans across the game today.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the roof to collapse or when the Jet Set building was last inspected. The club issued a statement saying it was cooperating with authorities. It said: “The loss of human life leaves us in a state of deep pain and dismay.”

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