'My children are dead, I know for sure': Father of Kenya starvation cult victims

Dozens of individuals' bodies, who are believed to have starved themselves to death in the hope of entering heaven after joining the self-proclaimed Good News International Church, led by Patrick Mackenzie, were identifiedon Wednesday, April 26.

In the Kenyan town of Malindi, relatives and loved ones were seen sobbing in front of a mortuary.

Many people spoke out loudly while holding up pictures of their loved ones. Since April 21, when officials began excavating human remains from shallow graves found in an 800-acre section of the Shakahola forest, where the church had its headquarters, the mortuary has quickly become overflowing.

Steven Mwiti's wife and five children died of starvation. In an interview to Reuters, he described how in 2015, his wife took their five kids and moved close to Patrick Mackenzie's church, going missing for extended periods of time. He saved them after the first time. “I warned her that if she goes back to that church she should not return here. If you decide to go, leave my children here," he said.

His wife disregarded his advice and returned to the church once more. She managed to escape a third time and took the kids along with her. Mwiti told Reuters that when he got in touch with her, she informed him that they were out of food. He tried again to save them, but it didn't work.

“The young men (there) told me that my children had been living in the forest since 2021. They told me my children had been starved to death.''

Mwiti is one of many people who have failed to locate their loved ones among the 81 remains that have already been exhumed by the police. They are also not among the 36 people that were saved by Wednesday, April 26.

According to Kenyan media, the cult members gave the names Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Judea to several of their forest settlements.

Watch | Gemini Sankaran, pioneer of Indian Circus dies at age of 99 in Kerala's Kannur

According to authorities, the cult's head, Paul Mackenzie, turned himself in on April 14 and is being detained with 14 other cult members.

Mackenzie is reportedly rejecting food and drink, according to Kenyan media.Paul Mackenzie Nthenge advised his followers to starve themselves to death in order to find God. Not just in Kenya, but all throughout the world, people are shocked and incensed over the situation. Kenyan authorities responded last month after receiving information about shallow graves with dead bodies in a forest.

They began looking in the Shakahola forest close to Malindi. Since then, dozens of bodies have been excavated, and more gruesome discoveries are anticipated.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE