THREE men were shot dead and two others critically wounded in a Durban tavern following an argument over the size of male genitals, police said yesterday.

Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu said the shooting took place at the Merseyside Restaurant and Bar at the Queensmead Mall in Durban’s Umbilo suburb on Wednesday night.

Five people were arrested in the early hours of yesterday. Two of those arrested were found in possession of firearms, which police believe were used in the shooting.

All five were residents of the Phoenix area.

The argument apparently began when a patron of Indian descent made a comment about the size of a white patron’s genitals while both were at the tavern’s urinals.

An officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “While in the urinal, the Indian man told the white man that his penis was bigger than his (that of the white man).

“The white man left the urinal and told his friends about what had happened and this is when the argument started.”

Vulgarities were exchanged and a group of five Indian men left the restaurant, later returning with firearms.

“The men opened fire and three victims aged between 30 and 55 years died on the spot. “Another two were rushed to St Augustine’s Hospital in a critical condition,” Mngomezulu said.

He believed that as the argument developed, it had possibly become racially motivated.

However, a senior staff member at the restaurant said that the argument had been over genitals. — Sapa