Africa

South African teenagers likely killed by something they consumed, say authorities

Twenty-one found dead after celebrating at east-coast tavern

Forensic personnel carry a body out of a tavern in South Africa's southern city of East London on June 26th, after 20 people died. Photograph: STR/AFP via Getty Images
Forensic personnel carry a body out of a tavern in South Africa's southern city of East London on June 26th, after 20 people died. Photograph: STR/AFP via Getty Images
Mon Jun 27 2022 - 18:37

South African authorities investigating the deaths of 21 teenagers at an east coast tavern over the weekend said on Monday the youths were probably killed by something they ate, drank or smoked, ruling out the earlier-touted possibility of a stampede.

The still unexplained deaths of the teens, some of whom were celebrating the end of school exams and others a birthday party, have brought an outpouring of grief and shocked a nation accustomed to injuries linked to a binge drinking culture.

Residents of Scenery Park, on the edge of East London, said they had asked authorities to close Enyobeni Tavern down weeks ago because it was serving under-aged kids. The tavern’s licence was revoked on Monday.

At a prayer meeting at a local church, mourners and priests sang, prayed, drummed on hymn books and cried over the loss of the youngsters.

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“I’m so devastated. We are so angry,” Maxhabiso Sibotoboto (50) whose 17-year-old granddaughter, Monelo, was among the dead, told Reuters by phone from a church memorial service for them.

“People were complaining about the tavern. No one was happy about it. The community wanted the tavern to be shut,” he said.

Monelo did not live with her parents, because her father had died and her mother worked a long way from home, he said.

Pictures circulating on social media, still unverified by the authorities, showed the bodies of youths lying scattered across the floor of the tavern, some also seen motionless on tables and couches.

“We are so heartbroken, guys. We lost one of our family members, a child who was doing grade 12 [final year] this year. We can’t accept it,” said Yandiswa Ngqoza, an aunt, as she choked back tears outside the morgue dressed in black attire.

“By the look of the child she has no visible injuries,” Ms Ngqoza said, before finally breaking down sobbing. Minutes earlier she had entered the morgue and identified her niece.

Eastern Cape police spokesman Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana told Reuters that the youngest of the victims at the Tavern in the city of East London was a 13-year-old girl.

“It is either something they ingested which will point to poisoning, whether its food or drinks, or it is something they inhaled,” Unathi Binqose, spokesman for the Eastern Cape’s provincial community safety department said by telephone on Monday. He said hookah pipes were visible in CCTV footage of the scene.

“We are ruling out a stampede completely,” he added, after initial media reports suggested this might be a possible cause of the deaths. Police said 21 had died, one fewer than originally thought.

Authorities are expected to produce a toxicology report as part of the investigation.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday he was worried about the circumstances under which young people, at least some under the age of 18 years, were allowed to gather at the tavern. It is illegal to serve drinks to under-18s in South Africa. — Reuters