Autopsies show that 4 more Shakahola victims were killed

Four more people were killed in Shakahola, Kilifi County, post-mortem results released on Wednesday have indicated.

The four, 3 children and an adult, were either hit by a blunt object or suffocated; this is according to the findings from 36 bodies that were examined by pathologists working at the Malindi sub-county mortuary.

"16 of the examined persons were children while 19 were adults. We could not ascertain the specific age of one of the victims. The number of males were 17 while females were 19," Chief Government Pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor said.

"Four of them had asphyxia prior to death. Three were children while one was an adult. There were obvious signs of strangulation on their bodies."

The results also show that 23 of the deceased died of starvation.

The autopsies further show a variation in the times of deaths of the victims, leading to difficulties in determining the causes of death in 7 of the bodies.

The process of DNA samples submission also continued for the second day on Wednesday with 22 families giving their samples. This as more families showed up to search for their missing kin

Autopsies have so far been done on 76 out of 109 bodies from the shallow mass graves at Shakahola.

The exercise is expected to be completed by Friday to pave way for the resumption of exhumation at the Shakahola forest.