21 bodies found in investigation of cult whose followers starved themselves to death to 'meet Jesus'

• A church leader in Kenya is accused of encouraging followers to starve themselves to "meet Jesus."
• Twenty-one bodies, including children, have been exhumed in the Shakahola forest.

Kenyan authorities have exhumed 21 bodies as part of an investigation into a cult whose followers are believed to have starved themselves to death.

At least three dead children were among those found in graves in Shakahola forest in the coastal town of Malindi, Agence France-Presse reported.

A police source told AFP that 21 bodies have been found as of Friday, and said more were expected to be found.

"We have not even scratched the surface which gives a clear indication that we are likely to get more bodies by the end of this exercise," the source said.

The group's leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge was arrested on April 15 amid investigations into the death of four followers who died of starvation.

The pastor, who is the leader of the Good News International Church, is believed to have told followers to starve themselves in order to die and "meet Jesus," AFP reported.

State broadcaster KBC has described Nthenge as a "cult leader."

He claims that he closed the church in 2019 and that the allegations against him are false, per The Standard.

A day before Nthenge's arrest, police raided the Shakahola forest to rescue 15 members of the church who were in the process of starving themselves, the Kenyan paper The Standard reported.

Four died before reaching the hospital, and the remaining emaciated survivors were taken to hospital in critical condition.

''The ignorant citizens are starving to death in pretext to meet Jesus after being brainwashed by a suspect, one Paul Makenzie Nthenge, a pastor of Good News International Church'," the police report said, according to The Standard.

Fifty-eight graves have so far been found in the forest, the BBC reported, with one grave containing the bodies of three children and parents from the same family.

Pathologists will conduct tests on the exhumed bodies to determine if they died of starvation, The Standard reported.