South African authorities investigating 21 teenagers found dead in a tavern on the East Coast over the weekend said Monday that the young men were probably killed by something they ate, drank or smoked, excluding a previously advertised possibility of a collision.
The still unexplained deaths of teenagers, some celebrating the end of school exams and others birthday parties, brought an outpouring of grief and shocked a nation.
“It’s either something they’ve swallowed that will indicate poisoning, whether it’s food or drink, or it’s something they’ve inhaled,” Unati Binkose, a spokesman for the Eastern Provincial Public Safety Department, said by telephone on Monday. Cape. He said hookah tubes could be seen in the video surveillance footage from the scene.
“We completely rule out collisions,” he said, after initial media reports suggested that this could be a possible cause of death. Police said 21 were killed, one less than originally thought.
The victims were 13 years old
Eastern Cape police spokesman Brigadier General Tembinkosi Kinana told Reuters that the youngest of the victims was a 13-year-old girl.
Addressing the crowd in front of the East London morgue on Sunday, emotional police minister Becky Sele had to stop talking when he began to cry, causing a chorus of shouts in his audience.
Photos circulating on social media on Sunday, still unverified by authorities, show the bodies of young people lying scattered on the floor of the tavern, some also seen motionless on tables and sofas.
Authorities are expected to prepare a toxicological report as part of the investigation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that he was worried about the circumstances in which young people, at least some under the age of 18, were allowed to gather at the tavern. In South Africa, it is illegal to serve drinks to persons under 18 years of age.
The tavern’s alcohol license was revoked on Monday, said Mgwebi Msiya, a spokesman for the Eastern Cape’s alcohol board.
“We are now on our way to the tavern to hand them this stop letter. We want them to stop trading immediately, “he said.
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