The bodies of several children exhumed in eastern Kenya showed signs of starvation and in some cases asphyxiation, a government pathologist said on Monday, as investigators began the first autopsies on over 100 people linked to a doomsday cult.
On Monday investigators said they had completed 10 autopsies, comprising nine children aged between 18 months and 10 years, and one female adult, from the 101 bodies discovered last month in shallow graves in Shakahola Forest, Kilifi County.
Eight cult members who were found emaciated in the forest died later. So far, 44 people have been rescued.“Generally, most of them had features of starvation. We saw features of people who had not eaten. There was no food in the stomach,” chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor told reporters.The deaths amount to one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history and the toll is expected to rise further, with the Kenyan Red Cross saying more than 300 people have been reported missing.
Children account for most of the bodies recovered so far, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said on Friday.
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