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At least 21 found dead in South African tavern

World Materials 28 June 2022 00:36 (UTC +04:00)
At least 21 found dead in South African tavern

South African mourners expressed anger and despair on Monday at the death of 21 teenagers in a tavern over the weekend, as investigating authorities said the youths were probably accidentally poisoned by something they ate, drank or smoked, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The still unexplained deaths of the teens, some of whom were celebrating the end of school exams and others a birthday party, have brought an outpouring of grief and shocked a nation accustomed to injuries linked to a binge drinking culture. Authorities ruled out an earlier-touted notion of a stampede.

Residents of Scenery Park, on the edge of East London, said they had asked authorities to close Enyobeni Tavern down weeks ago because it was serving under-aged kids.

The tavern's licence was revoked on Monday.

At a prayer meeting at a local church, mourners and priests sang, prayed, drummed on hymn books and cried over the loss of the youngsters.

"I'm so devastated. We are so angry," Maxhabiso Sibotoboto, 50, whose 17-year-old granddaughter, Monelo, was among the dead, told Reuters by phone from a church memorial service for them.

"People were complaining about the tavern. No one was happy about it. The community wanted the tavern to be shut," he said.

Monelo did not live with her parents, because her father had died and her mother worked a long way from home, he said.

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