Death toll in Kenyan starvation cult surpasses 300
The bodies of cult members in Kenya continued to pile up this week, surpassing 300, after a pastor told his followers they could fast-track a meeting with Jesus by starving themselves to death.
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How many victims have been found dead so far?
The death toll was expected to rise, given that more exhumations are imminent and that 613 people tied to the Good News International Church cult are still missing, authorities said.
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How many people have been reported missing?
FILE - Police and local residents load the exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult into the back of a truck in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya on April 23, 2023. (Uncredited/AP)
The count increased to 303 when mass graves yielded 19 more bodies in coastal Kenya, where pastor Paul Mackenzie Nthenge lived with his followers on 800 acres inside the Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County. A ministry official said the entire forest is being treated as a crime scene.
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Who is the leader of the Shakahola doomsday cult?
The emaciated followers were taken to a hospital and at least eight of them died, most of them from starvation, strangulation or suffocation, according to medical examiners. The survivors were taken to a shelter.
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What is the cause of death for most of the victims?
More than 100 bodies had been found by mid-April, and another 100 during May.
Mackenzie allegedly told his followers that the world would end on April 15 and said if they starved themselves to death they could cut the line and enter heaven before everyone else. He had been out on bond at that point after being charged with the deaths of two children at his church in 2017, and then again in March, while his case worked its way through the courts.
On Monday, 65 of those who were rescued staged a hunger strike to protest against being held at a shelter. They were charged with attempting suicide, and jailed.
Mackenzie is still being held as the investigation unfolds and is slated to return to court this week after an initial appearance last month.