At least 21 teenagers died over the weekend after a night out at a township tavern in South Africa, officials said on Sunday.
Although the cause of the deaths is still unclear, local officials and politicians said they feared that this might have been a case of underage drinking that went tragically wrong.
The Eastern Cape Government said eight girls and 13 boys had died at the tavern, in a residential area called Scenery Park.
Photo: AFP
Seventeen were found dead at the scene, while the rest died in hospital.
Empty bottles of alcohol, wigs and even a pastel purple “Happy Birthday” sash were found strewn on the dusty street outside the two-story Enyobeni Tavern, said Unathi Binqose, a government safety official who arrived at the scene at dawn.
Many of the victims are thought to have been students celebrating the end of their high-school exams on Saturday night, officials said.
There were no visible wounds on the bodies, but autopsies would determine if the deaths could be linked to poisoning, they added.
Among the senior government officials who rushed to the southern city was South African Minister of Police Bheki Cele.
He 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 see them, it breaks [you].”
Drinking is permitted for those aged 18 or older.
However, in township taverns, which are often situated next to family homes, safety regulations and drinking age laws are not always enforced.
“We have a child that was there, who passed away on the scene,” the parents of a 17-year-old girl said.
“This child, we were not thinking was going to die this way. This was a humble child, respectful,” mother Ntombizonke Mgangala said, standing next to her husband outside the morgue.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is attending the G7 summit in Germany, sent his condolences.
He voiced concern “about the reported circumstances under which such young people were gathered at a venue which, on the face of it, should be off-limits to persons under the age of 18.”
Authorities are mulling whether to revise liquor licensing rules.
South Africa is among the countries in Africa where the most alcohol is consumed.
Eastern Cape Prime Minister Oscar Mabuyane condemned the “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 outside the township tavern.
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