Authorities are expected to conduct a toxicological report as part of the investigation.
South African authorities investigating the deaths of 21 young people, who were found dead in a nightclub in East London at the weekend, announced today that the victims lost their lives from something they ate, drank or smoked, thus ruling out the possibility of being trampled to death.
The unexplained deaths of young people, some of whom were celebrating the end of school and others attending a birthday party, have caused a wave of excitement and shock in a country accustomed to poisoning associated with a culture of alcohol abuse.
“Whether it was something they consumed that would cause poisoning – food or drink – or something they inhaled,” Unati Bincose, a spokesman for the Eastern Cape Community Security Department, said by telephone today.
According to him, hookahs can be seen from the visual material obtained from security cameras.
“We completely rule out trampling,” he added after the first press reports suggesting that this may have caused the deaths of young people.
Police said 21 were dead, one less than the original tally.
A Eastern Cape police spokesman told Reuters the youngest of the victims was a 13-year-old girl.
According to the local newspaper DispatchLive“The corpses were scattered on the tables, chairs and on the floor”, bearing “no obvious signs of injury”.
Authorities are expected to conduct a toxicological report as part of the investigation.
The president of the country Cyril Ramafoza expressed concern yesterday about the conditions under which young people – some under the age of 18 – were allowed to gather at the bar. The sale of alcohol to persons under the age of 18 is prohibited in South Africa.
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