Teens at East London tavern 'did not die of natural causes'

"I don't know if we can say what happened, for now, I did ask the person who's leading the autopsy, Dr Zondi and he says they are collecting the information that can tell us the situation. What he has confirmed is that it's not a natural death that's taken place."

Cele visited the crime scene on Sunday where nine girls and 12 boys between 13 and 17 were found dead at the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park. 

Seventeen teenagers died at the scene, three passed away at medical facilities and one died en route to the hospital. 

According to the tavern’s Facebook page, an all-black-themed party celebrating two birthdays was hosted on Saturday. 

 READ: 17 people found dead in East London tavern

Cele ruled out a stampede as a possible cause of death. He’s described the crime scene as terrible. 

"The theory of stampede is fading off as there are other theories that I imagine but it looks like those scientific theories. So I'm not qualified to talk until I'm told exactly what happened."

Cele has deployed forensic teams from the Pretoria and provincial offices to investigate the causes of deaths.

 "We've taken a few more samples to toxicology to Cape Town which we've been advised will take a longer time but we'll try to make sure Cape Town helps us on that. We were confident but everyone  will be identified."