A provincial government official said that teams searching for survivors and victims of a “doomsday cult” in Kenya’s Chakahola forest found 22 more bodies, Saturday.
This brought the number of deaths in one of the worst tragedies in the country to 201. The sect calls on its followers to kill oneself as a means of salvation.
“Our forensic team recovered 22 bodies today, but we were not informed of any survivors,” local official Rhoda Onyansha told reporters in Chakahola Forest in the southwest of the country, where search operations are continuing.
It stated that another suspect was also arrested, which raises the total number of detainees in connection with self-homicide to 26.
For days, authorities have been excavating shallow graves dotted throughout the Chakahola Forest in search of remains, and scouring the area for any survivors as hundreds of people remain missing.
On Friday, 29 more bodies were discovered, including the bodies of 12 children, who were found in one grave.
A Kenyan court on Wednesday refused bail to Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, who is accused of ordering his followers to starve their children and themselves to death in order to enter heaven before the end of time.
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2023-05-13 19:39:45
