South African teenager Sinenjongo Phuthumani had only discovered the joys of drinking in nightclubs with her friends after graduating from school last year.
That new passion ended in horror when the 19-year-old watched friends and other partygoers collapse and die on the floor of an east coast tavern in a weekend tragedy that claimed 21 young lives and prompted nationwide grief.
Forensic teams were still working to solve the mystery surrounding the deaths on Thursday, a day after mourners gathered for a vigil to mark the loss of so many children. All the victims were teenagers, the youngest a 13-year-old girl. With the drink and amid the pandemonium of trying to escape, Phuthumani didn't notice something she would only find out later: one of her best friends, Sinothando Mgangalwa, was among the dead. "It's been really painful," she said.
"It will take a while for me to recover from this," she said. "All of our friends, we decided never to go to places of night entertainment again."
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