AT LEAST 20 DEAD IN SA TARVEN

EAST LONDON. — At least 20 young people have been found dead in a nightclub in the South African city of East London.

The cause of death is unknown.

Local media say bodies lay inside the Enyobeni Tavern as if they had collapsed, but there were no obvious injuries on the victims.

Post-mortem examinations are due to be carried out at mortuaries.

The premier of Eastern Cape province, where Sunday’s tragedy happened, said police experts were on the way.

Premier Oscar Mabuyane did not give possible reasons for the deaths, but 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 added.

Police told reporters most of those found dead were aged between 18 and 20.

The incident occurred in the early hours of yesterday.

A provincial safety official told AFP news agency that a stampede had been ruled out as the cause of death as there were “no visible wounds”.

“Forensic (investigators) will take samples and test to see if there was any poisoning of any sort,” Unathi Binqose said.

News service Dispatch Live claimed a reporter was at the ‘‘horrific’’ scene — but said images were not fit for publication.

The bodies are described as laying on chairs with ‘‘no obvious sign of injury’’.

Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana told Newsroom Afrika: ‘The SAPS confirms an incident where people were found dead in a tavern in Scenery Park in the area of East London.

‘‘We received this report in the early hours of Sunday. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation as we speak.

‘‘We do not want to make any speculation at this stage, our investigation is continuing.’’

Eastern Cape Premier Mbuyane visited the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park in East London yesterday.

The dead were partying at the tavern late on Saturday night, when they were allegedly exposed to a poison which resulted in a stampede.

Police have opened an inquest docket into their deaths and are investigating the exact cause of death.

Mbuyane described the incident as “shocking” and said it cast a spotlight on liquor licences and how they were enforced.

Mbuyane said that senior police, including police minister Bheki Cele were expected to arrive at the scene later yesterday.

“There are almost 20 lives that have been confirmed dead from where we are standing and there are more in hospital that are critical.

“These are young people, and we as a government are very concerned. We want to allow investigations to continue,” he said.

Initial reports from the scene indicated that as many as 22 people had died but this figure was revised down to 17, then 18 at the time of going to press.

The death figures are expected to continue to increase.

Unathi Binqose, spokesperson for the Department of Community Safety in the Eastern Cape said police had opened an inquest docket and was investigating.

He could not say if the tavern owner would be charged in relation to the incident.

He said that several mortuary vans had collected the dead. — IOL/msn/DispatchLive.