THE UPDATE CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST…

21 people, many of them underage, died under mysterious circumstances in the early hours of Sunday morning at Enyobeni tavern in Scenery Park, East London.

Footage shot before the incident occurred shows a packed venue with little to no crowd control and initial autopsy results pointed to the cause of death being linked to something attendees inhaled or ingested.

Some survivors even likened what happened to “well-planned murders” and called the incident suspicious.

Final autopsy results are expected to be announced this week. According to sources close to the investigation, reports News24, carbon monoxide poisoning appears to be the likely cause of the tragedy:

Sources close to the investigation believe the children… were killed by toxic fumes that emanated from a petrol generator that was suspected to have been used inside the tavern.

Preliminary results of post-mortem examinations conducted on the victims found traces of carbon monoxide…

Image: News24

A well-informed investigator said police crime scene experts found a petrol generator inside the venue where hundreds of young revellers partied from Saturday night into early hours of Sunday morning.

When the generator was found, the petrol tank was empty.

Samples were sent to the University of Cape Town’s forensic pathology laboratory earlier this week for analysis, which involved going through the stomach contents of victims.

Images from inside the venue show the bodies of those dead strewn across the tavern floor. Others can be seen “motionless on tables and couches”.

Multiple survivors and eyewitnesses also spoke of people struggling for air after what was possibly pepper spray was used inside the venue.

Yesterday, the Eastern Cape Liquor Board opened a case against the owner of the tavern

SAPS, via spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana, has asked for “sufficient space and time to conclude the investigation”.

UPDATE: A senior official in the Eastern Cape department of health’s forensic pathology services spoke with TimesLIVE:

“It is highly unlikely the cause of death was fumes from a generator. However, we are waiting for toxicology results.”

Another senior official said media reports identifying generator fumes as the cause of the deaths were “completely untrue”.

This is at odds with what the sources who spoke to News24 have said regarding the cause.

The release of the official results of the autopsies is likely this week, and certainly before next Wednesday’s scheduled mass funeral.

[source:news24]