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The empty bar in South Africa's East London the day after the tragedy
Photo: Phill Magakoe/AFP
After the death of 21 youths in a pub in East London, South Africa, police arrested the owner and two of his employees.
A supervisory authority had previously filed a complaint on suspicion of selling alcohol to minors, a police spokesman reported.
Forensic investigations into the exact cause of death are ongoing.
"There are currently no new developments," it said.
The young people, aged 13 to 17, were believed to have died of poisoning at a celebration.
They had celebrated a birthday and the start of the holidays.
The dead had been found slumped in their chairs and showed no external wounds.
At a mass funeral last week, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa criticized the fact that the youths were being served alcohol.
The minimum drinking age in South Africa is 18 years.
The pub owners put profits above the lives of the children, the president said.
"Something like this must never happen again."
14 dead in bar shooting
Another case from a South African bar recently caused a stir: 14 people died in a shootout in a bar in Soweto on Sunday night.
The officers found twelve bodies at the crime scene, and two other people later succumbed to their injuries.
Murders and other violent crimes have increased sharply in South Africa this year, as South Africa's Police Minister Bheki Cele announced at the beginning of June.
According to police statistics, 6,083 people were killed between January and March – a good 22 percent more than in the same period last year.
The number of violent crimes had already risen sharply in the course of 2021.
According to statistics from November, there were more than 6,100 murders and homicides between July and September.
That was an increase of 21 percent compared to the same period last year, it said.
bam/dpa
