Forensic experts on Monday began autopsies of more than a hundred corpses found in mass graves linked to a Kenyan pastor accused of inciting his followers to starve to death.
“Officially the process of post-mortem of the bodies starts immediately,” Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki told reporters outside a hospital morgue in the coastal town of Malindi.
“We are here to witness a very critical stage,” he said. “That process is expected to take roughly a week, all going well.”
Investigators will also take DNA samples to help identification, though the full results may take months, the chief government pathologist, Johansen Oduor, said.
Mass graves in the nearby Shakahola forest have revealed scores of dead, most of them children.
But the death toll of 109, which includes a small number of people who were found alive but died on their way to hospital, is still provisional.
"The process of exhumation was temporarily stopped because the experts advised us (that) when it is raining, that process cannot continue,” Kindiki said.
AFP