Gas leak may have killed 21 youths in South Africa tavern

FILE PHOTO: Mortuary vans are seen as forensic personnel load bodies of victims after the deaths of patrons found inside the Enyobeni Tavern, in Scenery Park, outside East London in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa, June 26, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -Twenty-one young people found dead in a tavern on South Africa's east coast over the weekend may have died by poisoning from a gas leak, a source close to the investigation said on Wednesday.

The deaths of the youths in a popular nightspot outside the city of East London unleashed an outpouring of grief in a poor community, while some relatives of the victims have expressed anger that weeks of calls to shut down the tavern went unheeded.