Kenya fears more starvation cult victims as search resumes

MALINDI - Fears were growing in Kenya that there could be more victims of a starvation cult as investigators resumed their searches after finding dozens of corpses in mass graves.

Police have spent days scouring the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi after receiving a tip-off about a cult led by Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who urged his followers to starve to death in order to find God.

Police sources told AFP late Monday that the death toll was now 73, with a number of people rescued and taken to hospital.

The grim discovery has sent shockwaves through the country, prompting President William Ruto to pledge a crackdown on "unacceptable" religious movements amid fears that the toll is set to climb higher.

"We believe there are more," Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome told reporters on Monday.

It is believed some followers of the Good News International Church could still be hiding in the bush around Shakahola and at risk of death if not quickly found.

Hussein Khalid, executive director of the rights group Haki Africa that tipped off the police, urged the authorities to send more rescuers to scour the 325-hectare area of woodland for survivors.

"Each day that passes by there is very high possibility that more are dying," he told AFP.

"The horror that we have seen over the last four days is traumatising. Nothing prepares you for shallow mass graves of children." 

Investigators said they found bodies squeezed into shallow pits -- with up to six people inside one grave -- while others were simply left outside on the ground.