An image attached to a widely circulated WhatsApp message, containing a gory image of burnt bodies, alleges that a pastor in the Democratic Republic of Congo “burnt his flock”.
Background
Good News International Church pastor Paul Mackenzie brainwashed his followers to fast to death leaving over 400 people dead. Mackenzie, currently under police custody, ordered his followers to starve to death for them to meet Jesus. Government pathologist Johansen Oduor conducted autopsies on the exhumed bodies and revealed some succumbed to head injuries, strangulation, smothering, and starvation.
Verification
A Google reverse image search reveals that the image is from an oil tanker accident in Morogoro, Tanzania. Articles and posts bearing the same image were published here and here. The gasoline tanker overturned and exploded as people were siphoning fuel, leaving 64 people dead and others sustaining injuries. The accident happened on August 10, 2019, years before the Shakahola Massacre in Kenya.
The accident was also reported here, here, and here.
Verdict
The claim that the image is from the DRC is FAKE.
This fact check was published by Piga Firimbi with technical support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck newsdesk, through the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA).
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