At least 22 people found dead in South African 'tavern' UPDATE - Now calling it a stampede

Emergency services were called in the early hours of Sunday to the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park, on the edge of East London, Eastern Cape province. Authorities say they are going to carry out post mortems as soon as possible. Reports say there are no obvious injuries on the bodies.

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana told the Newzroom Africa rolling news channel in the country that young people were among the dead.

Reuters reported him saying they were aged between 18 and 20, but there are also reports they may have been younger, with AP saying they were reportedly attending a party to celebrate the end of winter school exams.

Siyanda Manana, a spokesperson for the Eastern Cape provincial health department, told Reuters: "We are going to immediately be embarking on autopsies so we can know the probable cause of death. We are talking 22 bodies right now."

AP said police were investigating the deaths of at least 20 but reporters at the Daily Dispatch newspaper had earlier said the death toll could be as high as 22.

Another five people have been taken to hospital, according to local broadcaster eNCA.



At least 22 young adults, many between the ages of 18 and 20 and one as young as 13, were found dead in a South African nightclub early Sunday in what authorities described as a possible “stampede.”

Police and medical services in East London, South Africa, were called around 4 a.m. Sunday to the Enyobeni Tavern nightclub after reports of dead patrons, police told local broadcaster SABC. Once they arrived, they found the bodies of both men and women laying throughout the club.