A devastating roof collapse at a nightclub in the capital of the Dominican Republic has claimed at least 184 lives, authorities said late on Wednesday, as the search for survivors turned increasingly grim.

The nightclub collapsed on Tuesday, and for two days, families have gathered outside the wreckage of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo, anxious for information about their missing relatives.

Juan Manuel Mendez, Head of the Emergency Operations Centre, said at a press conference that emergency crews will continue to work until the last body will be found, but hopes of finding more survivors under the rubble were diminishing while no one had been pulled out alive in more than 24 hours.