Emotions high as relatives search for kin at Shakahola

A somber and highly emotional mood engulfed Shakahola area on Wednesday as relatives of people reported missing arrived to try and trace their loved ones.

At least 213 people have been reported missing since the gory details of deaths at the 800-acre farm came to the limelight a fortnight ago.

So far, over 30 people have been rescued, among them 11 children, as the toll of bodies exhumed from shallow graves rose to 95 on Wednesday.

Pastor Paul Mackenzie, the controversial preacher linked to the Good News International Church, has since been arrested as investigations into the deaths of his followers continue.

He is believed to have indoctrinated the victims into fasting to death in the false belief that they will meet their maker.

Kilifi County in collaboration with Kenya Red Cross have set up a tracing desk at Malindi sub county hospital.

The deaths have overwhelmed the county morgue prompting the  International Committee of the Red Cross Nairobi Regional Delegation (ICRC) to donate a refrigerated container to preserve exhumed bodies.

Labour and Social Protection CS Florence Bore said the eleven minors who were rescued from the expansive forest are in safe custody and are undergoing play therapy.

“One boy is in hospital, one two-week-old infant is with the mother,” she said.

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki on Tuesday declared Shakahola area disturbed and ordered for a security operation to evict anyone from the land.