Coast Regional Commissioner reported that search and rescue teams looking for survivors and victims of a doomsday cult in Shakahola forest found an additional 22 bodies on Saturday.
With these latest discoveries, the death toll from this catastrophic event has now reached 201, making it one of the worst tragedies in the country’s history.
“Our forensic team was able to exhume 22 bodies today but we have not reported any rescue,” Rhodah Onyancha, Coast Regional Commissioner, told reporters in the Shakahola forest in the country’s southwest where the search is continuing.
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She also confirmed that one more suspect had been taken into custody, raising the total number of arrests related to the deaths to 26.
The search operation for survivors and victims has continued this week, with authorities scouring the forest for any sign of missing individuals and exhuming shallow graves throughout the area.
Yesyerday, 29 additional bodies were discovered, including the remains of 12 children in a single grave.
Earlier in the week, the main suspect Pastor Paul Mackenzie was denied bail by the courts. Mackenzie is accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves and their children to death, all in the belief that they would ascend to heaven before the end of the world.
