Traces of methanol found in teenagers who died at South African nightclub

The interior of Enyobeni tavern where the teenagers died on 26 June. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

Investigators have found traces of the toxic chemical methanol in the bodies of 21 teenagers who died in a nightclub in South Africa last month.

The tragedy at the Enyobeni tavern in the poor Scenery Park township in the coastal city of East London on 26 June caused shock and grief in a nation used to seeing casualties from a widespread culture of heavy drinking.