Kenyan police recover bodies of 89 members of starvation cult

The cult's leader, Paul Mackenzie, was arrested on April 14 following a tip-off that suggested the existence of shallow graves containing some of the bodies

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 southeastern Kenya. Picture: AP Photo

Kenyan police have recovered 89 bodies, mostly from mass graves in a forest in eastern Kenya, thought to be followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves, an investigating police officer said.

The death toll, which has repeatedly risen as exhumations have been carried out, could rise further.