The horrific death toll from a “starvation to death” carried out by members of a Kenyan sect in hopes of going to heaven has risen to 90, with most of the victims being children, police said.

Authorities proceeded to exhume the 90th victim this afternoon and then decided to end the search in the Sakahol forest to clear the morgue first.

The count is still preliminary, and the authorities are expecting the worst: “We don’t know how many mass graves, how many bodies we will find,” said Interior Minister Kiture Kidiki, who visited the area where the International Church of Glad Tidings is located today. “was the headquarters.

A forensic expert who arrived at the scene told reporters that most of the bodies exhumed so far belong to children. According to Hussain Khalid, the executive director of the NGO Khaki, who briefed the authorities on the sect’s activities, “50-60% of the victims are children, followed by women and finally men.”

“The horror that we experienced during these four days shocked us. “Nothing prepares you for shallow graves where children are buried side by side wrapped in plain cotton cloth,” he added.

Malindi City Hospital Administration reported this morning that the morgue is overcrowded. The search will be suspended for the next two days until the autopsy of the bodies found is completed.

In the forest, 34 believers were found alive, but in a deplorable state.

The minister said that Paul Mackenzie Dengue, a self-proclaimed “pastor” of the church who encouraged his followers to fast to meet Jesus, was likely to be prosecuted for “terrorism”.

sect leader

Paul Mackenzie Denge, the man accused of starving his followers in eastern Kenya, is a former taxi driver who declared himself a “pastor” in 2003 and whose extremist sermons have led to his arrest twice in recent years.

Today, Mackenzie Denge is accused of the “Sakahol massacre” – after the name of the forest where dozens of bodies of members of the International Church of Good News, which he founded in 2003, were found. President of Kenya William Ruto spoke about the “terrorists” project.

On April 14, police confirmed that local authorities had intervened when they were told that “innocent citizens starved to death believing they would meet Jesus after being brainwashed.”

That same night, Paul Mackenzie Dengue, knowing he was wanted, turned himself in to the police. He has since been detained and will stand trial on May 2.

The website of his organization states that the church “was founded on August 17, 2003 by the servant of God P.N. Mackenzie.” With branches in many parts of Kenya, the International Church of the Good News is estimated to have over 3,000 members, with 1,000 in the coastal city of Malindi.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.