Police investigating a Christian suicide cult whose members are believed to have starved themselves to death, exhumed another 26 bodies in Malindi, Kenya, on Sunday. The grim discovery, brings the total number of bodies found so far up to 47.

“In total, 47 people have died at the Shakahola Forest,” detective Charles Kamau told Reuters news agency Sunday.

The deceased are thought to have been followers of Christian cult leader Paul Makenzie Nthenge, who reportedly told them to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus.”

Detctive Kamau said the exhumations remained ongoing.On Saturday police sources had said, “We have not even scratched the surface which gives a clear indication that we are likely to get more bodies by the end of this exercise.”Kenyan Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki told reporters that 800 acres of coastal Malindi’s Shakahola Forest had been declared a crime scene.