Four more bodies exhumed in Kwa Binzaro, pathologist says graves scattered, victims buried naked
Four bodies were exhumed on Friday from three graves at Kwa Binzaro village in Kilifi County, bringing the total number of bodies recovered to nine since the operation began on Thursday.
The bodies buried in Kwa Binzaro were found naked and scattered, Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor confirmed, as four more bodies were retrieved on day two of the exhumation.
Four bodies were exhumed on Friday from three graves at Kwa Binzaro village in Kilifi County, bringing the total number of bodies recovered to nine since the operation began on Thursday.
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Dr Oduor said the bodies retrieved on the second day were taken from three separate graves scattered across bushy areas, with one grave containing two bodies.
He noted that, unlike the earlier Shakahola 1 exhumations, the victims in Kwa Binzaro were buried naked and in shallow graves.
“We managed to process three graves today, which were scattered all over, and one of the graves had two bodies,” Dr Oduor said.
He explained that investigators were relying on signs of disturbed ground within the thick bush to locate the graves, adding that the concealment method in Kwa Binzaro differed from what was observed in Shakahola 1.
“The place is very bushy. The mode of operation has changed in that the bodies are being concealed in some bushy areas which are hard to reach. But due to the experience of our investigators, we are able to see them. Every place we go, when we see a bush that has been disturbed, we find some bodies and graves there,” he said.
Four bodies were exhumed on Friday from three graves at Kwa Binzaro village in Kilifi County, bringing the total number of bodies recovered to nine since the operation began on Thursday. (Farhiya Hussein)
According to Dr Oduor, the burial style suggests that the bodies were interred in a rush, unlike in Shakahola 1, where corpses were often wrapped in sheets.
“The graves are shallower than they were in Shakahola 1. When we were exhuming Shakahola 1, the bodies were well wrapped in some sheets, but right now, we are finding skeletons with no clothes. We think they were probably buried in a hurry,” he added.
Investigators suspect there are about 27 graves in Kwa Binzaro, with 18 still yet to be exhumed. The operation is expected to continue next week until all suspected sites are processed. Once exhumations are complete, the bodies will be transferred to Malindi Sub-County Hospital for post-mortems, DNA sampling, and identification.
Dr Oduor further revealed that the processing of remains from the earlier Shakahola exhumations is still ongoing. Out of the more than 419 bodies stored at the Malindi morgue, DNA analysis has been completed for 37, which will soon be released to families.
He appealed to families with missing relatives to provide DNA reference samples to help with the identification process.
“We are calling out to the public, if you know you have a relative who is missing and you suspect they could be part of the 419, the reason we are unable to process the DNA is because of a lack of reference. Just come and get your samples tested,” Dr Oduor urged.
The exhumations in Kwa Binzaro are part of the ongoing investigations into suspected mass graves linked to a religious cult.
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