Kilifi County plans to dispose of unclaimed bodies linked to the Shakahola massacre by December, in which 443 bodies were exhumed from Shakahola Forest.
The county government has begun the process and plans to issue a gazette notice giving relatives 21 days to claim the bodies before they are buried.
Officials have identified land near Kwa Binzaro in Kilifi County, close to the area associated with the tragedy, where the remains will be interred in collaboration with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The bodies are currently being preserved in a container and have been embalmed. They include both complete bodies and body parts. In some cases, relatives have been traced but failed to come forward to collect the remains.
The county’s main morgue, which has a capacity of 25 bodies, currently holds 22. Authorities are also constructing a new morgue, which is expected to be completed in due course.
The planned burial comes nearly three years after the Shakahola tragedy, leaving survivors, families and the wider nation deeply traumatised.
County officials are urging families who may have lost relatives in the tragedy to contact the relevant authorities and establish whether their loved ones are among the unclaimed remains before the gazette notice period expires.
