Four people were found dead last week and nearly a dozen others hospitalised in Kenya's coastal Kilifi county, after being rescued while waiting for the imminent end of the world, Africa news reports. The victims who are believed to be members of Pastor Paul Mackenzie’s Good News International Church say they had been told to fast to avoid "apocalyptic damnation”, the police said.

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The authorities said they rescued 11 people - six of them were emaciated and in critical condition.

Police said they will resume a search for more members of the group on Friday morning following reports that others were still in the forest.

The police also found a mass shallow grave at Shakahola Forest in Langobaya, Malindi.

''The police were unable to conduct any further activity at the mass grave because of the hostile residents in the forest believed to be the suspect's followers'' part of the report read.

The self-styled spiritual leader, who was once a controversial televangelist, has been on the detectives’ radar for allegedly preaching a dangerous doctrine that encourages his followers to starve themselves to death in order to reach heaven faster.

When the police visited the area on Thursday evening, April 13, they rescued the victims from his vast farm but he was not arrested despite being at the crime scene.

The pastor is currently out on police bail after he was charged last month over the death of two children whose parents are among his followers.