EC TRAGEDY MADE EVEN MORE GRAVE BY ITS OCCURRENCE DURING YOUTH MONTH: RAMAPHOSA

President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent his condolences to the families of the 20 deceased who lost their lives inside a popular tavern in East London has increased to 20

Veronica Mokhoali |

JOHANNESBURG - As the death toll in a mass death inside a popular tavern in East London has increased to 20, President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent his condolences to the families of the teenagers who lost their lives.

"This tragedy is made even more grave by its occurrence during Youth Month – a time during which we celebrate young people, advocate and advance opportunities for improved socio-economic conditions for the youth of our nation," said the President on social media.

While Eastern Cape police are still piecing together what could have led to the deaths of the patrons, it is still unclear what led to the multiple deaths however, they say the deceased, who are believed to be teenagers showed no obvious signs of injury.

Police were alerted by public members to the incident at Scenery Park in the early hours of Sunday morning - where several bodies were found at Enyobeni tavern.

Eastern Cape community safety spokesperson, Unathi Binqose said there's a possibility the number of fatalities may rise even higher.

"What we can say with certainty is that it's more than 17 people that have died. The 17 were literally found on the scene here, we are told that others may have died in the hospital which put the number to 20 or just above 20 but we will be 100 percent sure the moment we remove the bodies. Unfortunately, the bodies remain here at the tavern but will be moved to a public mortuary in no time".

Binqose said there have been no reports so far of any survivors from the incident because it's unclear how many people were in the local nightclub in the first place.