• The teenagers, the youngest of whom was a 13-year-old girl, died in June.
• Overcrowding, according to local news station eNCA, was the cause of asphyxiation.
• The Eastern Cape province’s health department declined to comment on the investigation’s findings.

Twenty-one young people who died in a tavern tragedy in June were suffocated, five parents said on Thursday, relaying to reporters the findings of an official investigation.

The teenagers, the youngest of whom was a 13-year-old girl, died in June while partying in a popular nightclub in a township outside the coastal city of East London in the Eastern Cape province, and their bereaved families have been demanding answers.

A spokesperson for the Eastern Cape province’s health department declined to comment on the investigation’s findings and told reporters that the findings would not be published.

Several possible causes for the teens’ deaths had been raised in recent weeks, including poisoning from what they may have eaten or drunk.

“The report has come out but I’m not happy about it,” said Xolile Malangeni, whose 17-year-old girl, Esinako, was among the victims. Xolile and others complained that the results were communicated by the authorities to them verbally.

It is unknown what caused the youths to suffocate. Overcrowding, according to local news station eNCA, was the cause of asphyxiation.

A source close to the investigation told Reuters in June that the young people may have died as a result of gas poisoning.

The bar’s owner has been arrested and charged with supplying alcohol to minors.

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