South African Tavern Tragedy: No wounds are seen in the body. Officials have put aside the invasion as a possible cause and says the autopsy will determine whether death can be associated with poisoning.
At least 21 teenagers, the youngest may only be 13 years old, died on the weekend after the night in a city in South Africa, in a tragedy that causes it is still unclear.
Many are considered as students to celebrate the end of their secondary school exam on Saturday night, said provincial officials.
No wounds were seen on the body. Officials have put aside the invasion as a possible cause and says the autopsy will determine whether death can be associated with poisoning.
The crowd, including parents whose children were lost, gathered on Sundays outside the shop where the tragedy took place in the city of East London, while the corpse vehicle collected the corpses, a correspondent AFP saw.
Senior government officials rushed to the southern city. They were included in the Minister of National Police Bheki Cele, who cried after emerged from the morgue where the corpse was stored.
“This is a terrible scene,” he told reporters. “They are young enough. When you were told that they were 13 years old, 14 years old and you went there and you saw it. It broke (you).”
The Provincial Government of Eastern Cape said eight daughters and 13 boys had died. Seventeen was found dead inside the shop. The rest died in the hospital.
Drinking is permitted for more than 18 years in Township Taverns, commonly known as Shebeens, which is often located cheeks by the jaw with a family home or, in some cases, in the house itself.
But the rules of safety and the Age of Drinking are not always upheld.
“We have children there, who died at the scene,” said the parents of a 17 -year -old girl.
“This child, we do not think of death like this. This is a humble child, respect,” said the mother who grieved Ntombizonke Mgangala, standing next to her husband outside the morgue.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who attended the G7 Summit in Germany, sent a condolence.
He voiced the concern “about the reported situation where young people like that gathered in a place, in the face, must be forbidden for people under the age of 18”.
The authorities are now considering whether to revise the liquor license regulations. South Africa is one of the countries in Africa where most of the alcohol is consumed.
“This is really hard to believe … losing 20 young lives like that,” said Prime Minister of Provincial Oscar Mabuyane, looking surprised.
He spoke to reporters before the victim was updated up to at least 21.
He cursed “unlimited liquor consumption”.
“You cannot only trade in the midst of a community like this and think that young people will not experiment,” he said from outside the shop, in a residential area called a landscape park.
Empty bottles of alcohol, wig, and even a “happy birthday” purple sling were found scattered on dusty roads outside the second floor of Enyobeni Tavern, according to Unathi Binqose, a government official whose safety arrived at the scene at dawn.
‘No obvious signs of injury’
Leaving aside the invasion as the cause of death, Binqose told AFP: “No open wounds are visible.”
“Forensics (investigators) will take samples and test to see if there are poisoning in any form,” he said, adding the blade was crowded.
Dispatchlive local newspapers reported on its website: “The corpse lay scattered on the table, chairs and on the floor, without signs of clear injury.”
Parents and officials say they understand that many people who die are students who celebrate the “pen” which is held after the end of the secondary school exam.
Local television shows police officers who are trying to calm the crowd of parents and spectators who gather outside the club in the city, located on the Ocean Beach of the Indian Samudra, nearly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southern Johannesburg.