South African president to attend funeral for 21 teenagers

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
Associated Press

EAST LONDON, South Africa (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is to attend the funeral in East London Wednesday for 21 teenagers who died in a mysterious tragedy at a tavern almost two weeks ago. A large tent has been erected for the service expected to be attended by hundreds of grieving family members and residents of East London’s Scenery Park township. It is still not known what caused the deaths of the young people, aged between 13 and 17, whose bodies were found in the Enyobeni tavern. All were under South Africa’s legal drinking age of 18. Pathologists are studying the cause of death from blood samples. A stampede has been ruled out because the victims did not have serious injuries.