Kenya cult deaths hits 90 as authorities expand operation

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The death toll at a ranch in coastal Kenya that is owned by a pastor who is accused of leading a cult and ordering his followers to starve themselves reached 90. The country’s interior minister announced an expanded operation at the site on Tuesday. The new figure came after police exhumed 17 more bodies. The total number of those rescued while starving at the ranch now stands at 34. The Kenya Red Cross Society’s latest figure on the number of missing is 213. Pastor Paul Makenzi is accused of luring his followers to the ranch and telling them to fast to death in order to meet Jesus before burying them in shallow graves spread across the ranch. He was arrested after police raided the property earlier this month.