Kindiki: Shakahola Victims Running To National Park With Wild Animals

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Thursday, May 25, revealed that some of Pastor Paul Mackenzie's followers holed up in Shakahola forest were attempting to flee towards Galana Kulalu and Tsavo National Park.

During a press briefing, Kindiki noted that police officers managed to intercept them after combing the area in the search and rescue operation before they could encroach the national park known to be crawling with dangerous wild animals.

"We have information that some of Pastor Paul Mackenzie's followers are fleeing towards Galana Kulalu and Tsavo National Park.

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki during his visit to Shakahola Forest. /FACEBOOK.KITHURE KINDIKI

"We will upscale search and rescue efforts by combing every part of the Shakahola Forest to evacuate every person therein, dead or alive," he stated.

The CS further noted that despite the rescue efforts, some of the victims continued to resist by refusing to eat.

He gave an example of a victim who succumbed on Wednesday, May 24, after being taken to the hospital, after he declined to eat, despite being already weak.

"Yesterday we lost one of the persons who had been rescued from Shakahola forest at taken to hospital for stabilization because they continued to resist eating. We tried our best to feed the victim of this horrible crime but because they had already been weakened significantly, that combined with their resistance to eating resulted in the death,” he noted.

Kindiki also revealed that new evidence revealed more graves being discovered at Shakahola forest, thus more time was needed to allow the exhumation exercise to continue.

He extended the measures gazetted on Shakahola forest including the dusk-to-dawn curfew by another 30 days for the exercise to continue without hitches.

He further declared that the area remains a crime scene, thus unauthorised persons were barred from accessing the premises.

While issuing the updates, Kindiki noted that police officers had rescued 91 people, and reunited 19 victims with their families. During the operation, 34 people were arrested due to the massacre.

As of now, 241 bodies were recovered from the forest, with five of them being skeletons that were recovered after the suspension of the exhumation exercise.

Pastor Paul Mackenzie during a past interview. /FILE