More than 600 people still missing, authorities say, amid reports pastor ordered followers to starve themselves

The death toll linked to a Kenyan pastor accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus has passed 300, with the figure expected to increase as more exhumations are planned.

Authorities say the dead were members of the Good News international church, led by Paul Mackenzie, who is accused of ordering his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so they could go to heaven before the end of the world.

Ezekiel Odero arrested and more than 100 people evacuated from church, days after discovery of bodies linked to another church

One of Kenya’s highest-profile pastors is facing charges over the “mass killing of his followers”, the government has said, just days after the discovery of dozens of bodies linked to another church.

Ezekiel Odero, the head of the New Life Prayer Centre and Church, “has been arrested and is being processed to face criminal charges related to the mass killing of his followers”, the interior minister, Kithure Kindiki, said in a statement.

Search continues for dead and alive as Kenyan Red Cross says 112 people have been reported missing

The death toll from a Christian cult in Kenya that practised starvation has risen to 67, after more bodies were recovered from mass graves in a forest in the south-east of the country.

A major search is under way in the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi, where dozens of corpses were exhumed over the weekend. The bodies are thought to be those of followers of a cult who reportedly believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves.

Paul Mackenzie Nthenge reportedly told followers to starve themselves to ‘meet Jesus’

Twenty-one bodies have been exhumed in eastern Kenya in an investigation into a cult whose followers are believed to have starved themselves to death, police sources have said.

On Saturday officials reported seven deaths in connection with the inquiry after the arrest of Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who reportedly told followers to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus”.