The death toll of people believed to be followers of cult leader Paul Mackenzie has hit 436 after seven more bodies were exhumed on Monday during the fifth phase of an ongoing recovery exercise.
Chief Government Pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor confirmed the new findings, saying that the bodies were discovered in four graves—one mass grave containing four bodies and three individual graves.
“One grave had four bodies, while the three others had one body each, which makes a total of seven bodies exhumed today. As per what I know, we have about 50 graves identified which we are going to work on until we finish up,” he said.
Oduor said approximately 50 other graves have been identified in the forest.
The graves were identified easily because of the loose soil.
“The loose soil helps us to identify the graves, and as you've been here today, you've noticed that any place where we suspect by using those criteria, we've been finding bodies inside,” said Oduor.
The deceased are believed to be followers of cult leader Paul Mackenzie, who currently faces multiple charges, including terrorism, murder, and manslaughter, in Mombasa and Malindi courts.
Mackenzie, his wife and 93 other suspects are being held at Shimo la Tewa Prison in Mombasa in connection with the death of the people who died in Shakahola due to self-inflicted starvation.
Oduor said the exhumation exercise will continue as the government works round the clock to help identify the bodies through the DNA process.
He said they expect that within the next month, the bodies currently held for analysis at the Malindi hospital morgue will be processed and released to family members.