Kenya starts to hand over to relatives the bodies of 429 members of a doomsday cult

NAIROBI: Kenya s government on Tuesday began handing over to relatives the bodies of 429 members of a doomsday cult at the center of a legal case that...

NAIROBI: Kenya's government on Tuesday began handing over to relatives the bodies of 429 members of a doomsday cult at the center of a legal case that has shocked the country.

Exhumed bodies from a vast rural area in coastal Kenya have shown signs of starvation and strangulation. Cult leader Paul Mackenzie is accused of asking his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus and now faces charges that include murder.

Authorities are using DNA testing to help identify bodies and their families. On Tuesday, the first bodies were handed over to relatives. Emotions ran high at the Malindi mortuary as families collected loved ones for reburial. Some wailed, overwhelmed.

Francis Wanje, a father who lost his daughter and seven other family members, pointed at a hearse carrying four bodies.

"We lost eight members of our family," Wanje said. "We were supposed to get five, but were told that one of the children did not match the DNA.