22 Children Die in South Africa while Celebrating Completion of High School Exams

By Raisa Okwaras

At least twenty-two teenagers with the youngest being thirteen years old have been confirmed dead after a tragedy occurred while celebrating in an ill-fated club in East London City, South Africa.

According to Provincial Officials of the Eastern Cape, the number included thirteen boys and eight girls. Seventeen died inside the club with four more succumbing while medics tried to save their lives in hospital.

The officials also stated that most were students who had gone to celebrate the completion of their high school examinations on Saturday night.

While the cause of the tragedy remains unknown, authorities have launched an investigation to debunk the cause of the death. Since the bodies had no visible wounds on them, authorities have eliminated a stampede as one possible cause. The authorities are also banking on autopsies to reveal if the children were poisoned by having their drinks spiked.

On Sunday morning, multitudes gathered outside the club where the misfortune occurred. Some of the people present include parents of the children that lost their lives. They watched as mortuary vehicles came in to collect the bodies of their children.

When the news reached senior government officials, some were shocked that they visited the mortuary that housed the bodies of the children to confirm. For instance, Police Minister Bheki Cele broke down into tears after viewing the bodies of the young ones in one of the morgues.

“It is a terrible scene. They are pretty young. When you are told they are thirteen or fourteen years old and you go there and you see them, it breaks you,” Police Minister Bheki Cele told the reporters.

Drinking in South Africa is permitted to anyone above the age of eighteen. However, the enforcement of such rules especially among minors is not always enforced. It is why such an unexpected tragedy befell them. With this, authorities are now looking into revising licensing regulations for liquor in South Africa- a country with one of the highest rates of liquor consumption in the continent.

Source: Africa News.