In the course of an investigation into members of a Christian cult who believed they would enter paradise if they starved themselves to death, Kenyan police have excavated scores of remains from shallow graves in the country’s eastern region.
According to media reports on Sunday, officials’ information put the total number of remains exhumed to date as high as 47.
“Today we have exhumed 26 more bodies and this brings the total number of bodies from that place to 47,” said the head of criminal investigations in Malindi, eastern Kenya, Charles Kamau.
He claimed that in addition to looking for dead, survivors of the cult—some of whom are still refusing to eat—were also still being sought.
After the first remains were found last week, police began their operation, and on Friday, exhumations of bodies from a 325-hectare (800-acre) stretch of forest at Shakahola, close to Malindi in Kilifi county, started.
The terrible finding was referred to as the “Shakahola Forest Massacre” in a tweet sent on Sunday by Kenya’s interior minister, Kithure Kindiki, who also said he would be visiting the location on Tuesday.
More shallow graves have not yet been dug up on the property owned by preacher and cult leader Paul Mackenzie, who was detained on April 14 due to connections to cultism, according to Malindi Sub-County Police Chief John Kemboi.
One member of the church found by the authorities has refused to eat despite clearly being in physical distress, said Hussein Khalid, a member of Haki Africa, the rights group that tipped off the police to the actions of the church.
“The moment she was brought here, she absolutely refused to be administered with first aid and she closed her mouth firmly, basically refusing to be assisted, wanting to continue with her fasting until she dies,” Khalid told the AFP news agency.
Khalid said he believed some church members were still hiding from the authorities in the nearby forest.
“This signifies the magnitude of this issue, that clearly shows that there are still many who are still out there … and possibly dying every second that passes by.”
He called on the government to send soldiers to help with the search so the believers could be found before they starved themselves to death.
Ruth Dama Masha, executive committee member for social services in Kilifi county where the graves were discovered, also said that some members of the cult that were rescued from starvation had refused to eat.
“So we really have a lot to do and try to change their mindset because I feel some of them have been really radicalised,” Masha said.