NAIROBI (Kenya): Police conducting exhumations in the Shakahola Forest in Kenya discovered 10 additional bodies, bringing the death toll from a cult to 336.
The shocking increase has prompted Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki to issue an apology where he acknowledged that authorities could have prevented the deaths with greater vigilance.
“I would like to apologise to Kenyans today as did our president. It is obvious that there was laxity in both the previous and current government regimes that unfortunately led to the death of many citizens in Shakahola,” he was reported as saying by Anadolu Agency.
The operation to recover victims, which entered its third phase two weeks ago, has been temporarily suspended to prepare for upcoming autopsies on bodies that have been exhumed.
Hundreds of corpses have been found in the Shakahola Forest since April during investigations into the cult run by Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who leads the Good News International Church.
Mackenzie is accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves so they could go to heaven before the end of the world.
The investigations have revealed that some victims had their organs missing, which has led to suspicions of trafficking in human organs. –AFP
