EAST LONDON, South Africa
At least 20 young people have
died at a township pub in South Africa's southern city of East London, but the
cause of the deaths is still unclear.
Senior officials from the
provincial government rushed to the scene, where at least six mortuary vehicles
were lined up in the residential street waiting to collect the bodies,
according to an AFP correspondent.
Drinking is permitted in South
African township pubs, commonly known as taverns or shebeens which are
sometimes located in family homes, where safety regulations are rarely
enforced.
"The number has increased
to 20, three have died in hospital. But there are still two who are very
critical," the head of the provincial government safety department Weziwe
Tikana-Gxothiwe said on local TV.
A visibly shocked head of the
Eastern Cape Province Oscar Mabuyane spoke from outside the scene, a building
surrounded by houses in an area called Scenery Park.
"It's absolutely
unbelievable, we can't understand it, losing 20 young lives just like
that," he told reporters, condemning "this unfortunate consumption,
unlimited consumption of liquor".
"You can't just trade in
the middle of society like this and think that young people are not going to
experiment," he said.
Empty bottles of alcohol, wigs
and even a pastel purple "Happy Birthday" sash lay strewn on the
dusty street outside the double-storey Enyobeni Tavern, according to Unathi
Binqose, a safety government official who arrived at the scene at dawn.
Provincial police spokesman
brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana told AFP that police were
investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
He said the victims at
Enyobeni Tavern were aged between 18 and 20 years, but provincial community and
safety department official Binqose said some could be as young as 15.
Ruling out a stampede as the
cause of death, Binqose told AFP "there are no visible open wounds to
those dead".
"Forensic (investigators)
will take samples and test to see if there was any poisoning of any sort,"
he said.
"One thing for sure, the
place had a lot more people than it normally takes," he added.
A local newspaper website, DispatchLive,
reported that "bodies are lying strewn across tables, chairs and on the
floor; with no obvious signs of injury".
Binqose said he understood
many of the patrons were students "celebrating pens down, a party held
after writing (high school) exams".
Local television showed police
officers trying to calm down a crowd of parents and onlookers gathered outside
the club in the city, which lies on the Indian Ocean coast, nearly 1,000
kilometres (620 miles) south of Johannesburg.
"Parents whose children did not sleep at home are gathered here and they want to enter the tavern to look for their loved ones," said Binqose.
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