Postmortem for fasting-to-death victims’ bodies pushed to Friday

Malindi, Friday April 28, 2023

K.N.A By Emmanuel Masha

The long-awaited postmortem examination for the bodies of persons believed to have fasted to death following cult-like teachings by embattled Pastor Paul Mackenzie will commence today, Friday.

This is after a freezer of the mobile mortuary brought in by the Kenya Red Cross to help preserve the bodies at the Malindi Sub County Hospital Mortuary failed to work after gas leaked, according to officials.

 Kenya Red Cross Coast Regional Manager Hassan Musa confirmed that the mobile mortuary had developed some technical problems but assured the press that the anomaly had been rectified and will be ready as soon as 87 bodies are transferred to the temporary facility.

Mr Musa at the same time said 364 persons had been reported missing at the Tracing Centre stationed at the Malindi Sub County Hospital Mortuary, some from different parts of the country and even from as far as Nigeria and Tanzania.

“We have people from different counties who have been reported missing, such as Vihiga, Taita Taveta, Kisumu and Nairobi. We have also received reports of missing persons from Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria,” he said.

 He said although the Kenya Red Cross had recorded the reports, it would take time for the relatives to get their loved ones and called for patience, “because we believe that there are some still in the forest who when rescued will be matched with the missing persons.”

 He said it would also take time for the bodies to be matched with those reported missing since they were not easy to recognise.

 Meanwhile, the multi-agency team carrying out the search and rescue mission Thursday exhumed five more bodies, bringing the total of bodies exhumed to 103 since the operation began more than a week ago.

Courtesy K.N.A