BRONWEN ROBERTS, Durban | Friday 8.00pm
TWELVE schoolchildren died and five were seriously injured in a stampede in a crowded disco in Chatsworth, Durban on Friday afternoon.
The stampede was apparently caused when a canister of gas — thought to have been teargas — was released in the early afternoon in the Throb nightclub — packed with pupils celebrating the end of the school term.
A brick wall apparently collapsed during the stampede, crushing some of the children, Naidoo said. It was unclear how the teargas was released, police said. Police spokesman Bala Naidoo said the dead are aged between 11 and 16. Eleven children were killed at the club and another died in hospital. Five critically injured children have been admitted to hospital, Naidoo said. Parents have flocked to the disco and hospitals in the area to find their children. One distraught mother collapsed and was treated for shock.
Another distressed woman who could not trace her son cried to trauma councillors, “He’s my only child, he’s my only child.”
A 15-year-old girl was dead on arrival at the RK Khan hospital, Superintendent Prakash Subban said. The hospital is treating 38 other children, he said. “Four are critical — they have lacerations, fractures and chest problems. “Some of the others have limbs fractured, lacerations and respiratory problems, but they are stable. One or two may have to be admitted, but the others will probably go home,” he said.
Victims are also treated at the Chatsmed Garden hospital. Police initially believed the deaths were caused by poisonous gas.