The Cabinet Secretary for Interior Prof. Kithure Kindiki has suspended the exercise of exhuming bodies from the Shakahola forest to pave way for for logistical arrangements for the postmortem examination.
Addressing the press on Saturday, May 20, 2023, Kindiki specified that only the search for graves and exhumation of the victims of the Shakahola Massacre has been suspended while the rescue search shall be going on.
The decision to suspend the exercise, as explained by Kindiki, is to allow for logistical arrangements for the postmortem examination of the additional 123 bodies recovered in Phase 2 of the exhumation exercise.
He added that the phase 2 postmortems will commence next week, on Wednesday 24th May 2023 at the Malindi Sub-County Hospital.
According to Kindiki, the search for and rescue of survivors within Shakahola Forest and The Chakama Ranch generally will continue uninterruptedly and shall be extended into the edges of the neighbouring Tsavo East National Park in the coming days using ground and drone search.
He maintained that the other suspended operations will resume on conclusion of the Phase 2 postmortem exercise.