At least 21 teenagers, the youngest possibly 13, have died this weekend after spending a night in a town tavern. South Africa in a tragedy whose cause remains unclear. City officials are thought to be students, many of whom celebrated the end of their high school exams on Saturday night.
There were no visible wounds on the bodies. Authorities ruled out the possibility of a possible stampede and said autopsies would determine whether the deaths were linked to poisoning.
An AFP reporter saw crowds of people, including parents with missing children, gather outside the tavern where the tragedy occurred in the east London city of Sunday, and morgue trucks pick up the bodies.
Senior government officials rushed to the city in the south. Among them was National Police Minister Bheki Cele, who burst into tears after emerging from a morgue where the bodies were kept.
“This is a scary scene,” he told reporters. “They’re so small. When you’re told you’re 13, 14 years old, you go there and you see them. It breaks (you).”
Reuters / Stringer
The Eastern Cape provincial government said eight girls and 13 boys had died. Seventeen dead were found in the tavern. The rest died in hospital.
Those over the age of 18 are allowed to drink in town taverns, commonly known as shebeen, which are usually located next to or in some cases inside the family homes.
But safety regulations and drinking age laws aren’t always enforced.
“We have a child who was there, who died at the scene,” said parents of a 17-year-old boy.
“This boy, we didn’t think he was going to die like this. He was a humble, respectful boy,” said the grieving mother Ntombizonke Mgangala, who stood beside her husband outside the morgue.
A 17-year-old girl who introduced herself to Reuters news agency as Lolly said the tavern is popular with young people.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who attended the meeting, G-7 summit He expressed his condolences in Germany.
He expressed concern “about the reported conditions of such youth gathering in a venue that should apparently be prohibited to persons under the age of 18.”
Authorities are now considering whether to review liquor licensing regulations.
“This is absolutely incredible; .. losing 20 young lives just like this,” said the state’s prime minister, Oscar Mabuyane, visibly shocked.
He was speaking to reporters before the toll was updated to at least 21.
He condemned “unlimited drinking”.
Outside the tavern, in a residential area called Scenery Park, “You can’t imagine in the middle of a society like this that young people wouldn’t trade and experiment,” he said.
According to Unathi Binqose, a security government official who arrived at the scene at dawn, empty alcohol bottles, wigs, and even pastel purple “Happy Birthday” sash were found strewn across the dusty street outside the double-decker Enyobeni Taverna.
Stating that the cause of death was not stampede, Binqose told AFP: “There are no visible open wounds.”
“The forensic (researchers) will take samples and test to see if there is any poisoning,” he said, adding that the bar was overcrowded.
Local newspaper DispatchLive its website states: “Bodies lie strewn on tables, chairs and the floor, with no obvious signs of injury.”
Parents and officials said they understood that most of the dead were students celebrating the “pence down” parties held after the end of their high school exams.
Local television showed police officers trying to calm a crowd of families and spectators gathered outside the club in the city on the Indian Ocean, about 620 miles south of Johannesburg.
