South Africa police are puzzled after finding at least 21 bodies | NOW

Police in South Africa are still in the dark about the cause of death of at least 21 young people who were found lifeless on Sunday morning in a pub in the city of East London. 31 people have been taken to hospital. Two of them are still there on Monday.

The police say they are making every effort to clarify what exactly happened. According to emergency services, the bodies were found slumped on chairs, sofas and on the floor, with no visible injuries.

It concerns young people between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Most were in the pub to celebrate the end of the school year. They may have died from something they drank, ate or smoked.

The police initially thought that panic had broken out in the pub and that the teenagers were crushed to death as a result, but that theory has now been ruled out. Those taken to hospital suffered from headaches, chest and back pain and vomiting.

Survivors say there was a suffocating smell in the bar

Survivors tell various media that the full tent had a strong and suffocating smell. Nineteen-year-old Sinovuyo Monyane, who was hired by the pub to promote drinks, tells news agency AFP that she is still “confused”.

She wanted to flee outside because of the smell, but that was made difficult by the crowds. At the same time, she heard other people screaming that they couldn’t breathe.

“Then I passed out,” Monyane said. She thought that some sort of pepper spray had been sprayed. When she awoke later, she saw the bodies lying on the floor. “I could have been dead,” she says.

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