A catastrophic roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic’s capital has left at least 66 people dead, including a popular singer and a provincial governor.

Some 155 people were injured and emergency crews were still working to pull survivors from the rubble of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo on Tuesday (local time) as families of the victims gathered at the site searching for their loved ones.

The emergency crews’ capacity was increased as “more heavy equipment has been used to speed up the removal of debris and continue the search efforts,” presidential spokesman Homero Figueroa said.

Juan Manuel Mendez, head of the Dominican Republic’s emergency operations centre, said earlier on Tuesday the exact number of people inside the club at the time of the collapse remained unclear. It was believed to be at least 300, and there are fears the death toll will rise further.

The disaster struck about 1am local time, during a concert by popular Dominican singer Rubby Perez. He was among those killed, according to his manager and family members near the site.

His daughter has told local media her father survived the collapse and was found him singing under the rubble.

“He started to sing so they could hear him,” she said.

Politicians, athletes and other prominent figures were among those in the audience.

Also among the victims was Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northern Monte Cristi province, President Luis Abinader said. Cruz was the sister of former baseball player Nelson Cruz, a seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star.

Former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco also died in the collapse, local authorities confirmed. Dotel died en route to a local hospital after being pulled from the debris, a spokesman for the nation’s sports ministry said.

Dotel, 51, debuted for the New York Mets in 1999 and played until 2013 for more than a dozen teams including the Houston Astros, Oakland A’s, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.

“Thinking about our people in the Dominican Republic,” Carlos Mendoza, manager of the Mets, said in a press conference.

“We have a lot of the Dominican community in the baseball world.”

Relatives were receiving psychological support and the cause of the roof collapse remained under investigation, officials said.

-with AAP