KENYAN followers of a religious sect that predicted the world would end after nuclear war broke out on 12 September moved into bunkers on Wednesday, despite this failing to happen.
Wearing gas masks, gloves and long overcoats, dozens of members of the House of Yahweh (Hebrew for God), based in the United States, have entered a network of underground hideouts in the village of Mauche, in the Kenyan highlands.
They have enough food for a year, by which time sinners will have been wiped off the Earth, according to their beliefs.
"Those who have been doubting us will, in hours, be ashamed and if the effect of the war is not felt here, then let the police arrest us," said Mosheh Sang, the leader of the sect in Kenya.
According to Mr Sang, a nuclear war between the US and North Korea only failed to kick off on Tuesday due to difference in international time zones. "Members of our sect who are in the US will not be affected, as they are protected by Yahweh," he added.
Kenyan authorities have been watching sect members to avoid a repeat of the aftermath of an unfulfilled prophecy in Uganda, when more than 900 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments were burned alive in 2000.
Followers of the cult have erected wooden props to support the 6ft by 10ft dugouts, but police said that despite this, they were worried the bunkers might cave in. Underground water was seeping in, which officers said would weaken the structures.
"Though there is freedom of worship in the country, our fears are that the members could die- not from the so-called nuclear war but by the bunkers caving in," Dominic Karanja, a senior police officer, said. However, the cult said it was Yahweh's way of providing water for them to use.
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