At least 17 young people were found dead on Sunday at a nightclub in a township in South Africa’s southern city of East London. Police gave this information.
Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana, a provincial police chief, said: “We received a report about 17 (people) who died at a local tavern in Scenery Park in east London.” AFP,
“We are still investigating the circumstances of the incident,” he said.
He said the age of the victims is between 18 and 20 years.
Eastern Cape Provincial Community and Safety Department official Unti Binkos, speaking from the scene, denied a stampede as the cause of death.
“It’s hard to believe it’s a stampede because there are no visible open wounds for the dead,” Binkos said. AFP by telephone.
a regional local newspaper, dispatchlivereported “The bodies are scattered on tables, chairs and on the floor; there are no obvious signs of injury”.
Unverified photos shared on social media showed no signs of injuries in the bodies scattered on the club floor.
Local television showed police officers trying to pacify a crowd of parents and spectators gathered outside the club in the city, which is located on the Indian Ocean coast some 1,000 km south of Johannesburg.
“Parents whose children did not sleep at home have gathered here and want to enter the inn to look for their loved ones,” Binkos said.
He said he understood that the patrons were students “celebrating the pen, a party held after writing (high school) exams”.