Kenyan cult leader told followers to starve themselves ahead of world's end, sources say

Relatives of followers of a Christian cult named "Good News International Church", who believed they would go to heaven, if they starved themselves to death in Shakahola, gather at the Malindi sub district hospital mortuary in Malindi, Kilifi county, Kenya April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi

MALINDI, Kenya (Reuters) - The leader of a Kenyan cult told his followers the world would end on April 15 and instructed them to starve themselves to be the first to go to heaven, a relative of cult members and hospital staff told Reuters on Wednesday.

Eighty-nine followers of the Good News International Church, which was based in the Shakahola forest in eastern Kenya, are known to have died. Authorities have recovered 81 bodies from shallow graves since Friday, while eight cult members were found alive but later died.