Officials investigate deaths at nightclub

Agence France-presse

EAST LONDON, SOUTH AFRICA: At least 21 teenagers, the youngest possibly just 13, died at the weekend after a night out at a township tavern in South Africa, in a tragedy whose cause remains unclear. Many are thought to have been students celebrating the end of their high-school exams on Saturday night, provincial officials said.

There were no visible wounds on the bodies. Officials have ruled out a stampede as a possible cause and said autopsies would determine if the deaths could be linked to poisoning.

Senior government officials rushed to the southern city of East London. They included national police minister Bheki Cele, who broke down in tears after emerging from a morgue where the bodies were being stored.

“It’s a terrible scene,” he told reporters. “They are pretty young. When you are told they are 13 years, 14 years and you go there and you see them. It breaks (you).”

The provincial government of Eastern Cape said eight girls and 13 boys had died. Seventeen were found dead inside the tavern. The rest died in hospital.

Drinking is permitted for over-18s in township taverns, commonly known as shebeens, which are often situated cheek by jowl with family homes or, in some case, inside the homes themselves. But safety regulations and drinking-age laws are not always enforced.

The authorities are now considering whether to revise liquor licencing regulations. South Africa is among the countries in Africa where most alcohol is consumed. Provincial police spokesman brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana said that police were investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.