S.Africa seeks clues after 21 teens die in packed bar

South African police were on Monday combing a township tavern where 21 teenagers mysteriously died as survivors described a battle to escape the jam-packed premises and one reported a suffocating smell.

Officials have ruled out a stampede as the cause of the deaths.

Most of the victims, some as young as 13, were found dead inside a popular bar in the southern coastal city of East London. 

Seventeen died inside the bar, while four died later in hospital. The victims included 13 boys and eight girls.

Thirty-one others were hospitalised with symptoms including backache, tight chests, vomiting and headache, officials said.

Most were discharged on Sunday, leaving two in hospital, they said.

The fatalities bore no visible signs of injury, sparking initial speculation among local officials and politicians that this was a case of underage drinking that had gone tragically wrong.

"But the suspicion is that it is something either they ingested through drinks, food, or something they inhaled," Unathi Binqose, a government official on safety, said.

Politicians expressed their shock at the deaths.

"It has never happened that our country loses children in this manner," Elleck Nchabeleng, who chairs the parliamentary committee on education and technology, sports, arts and culture.