Members of a doomsday cult in Penza come to the surface in March 2008
Penza, 16 May 2008 (Interfax):
All of the hermits who huddled in a cave in Penza oblast since November 2007 in expectation “of the end of the light” have left and returned to the surface. “A second corpse was discovered in the cave in close proximity to the place where the hermits hid themselves, and examinations showed that there was a real possibility that there was a threat of ptomaine poisoning. We proposed to the hermits that they leave the cave voluntarily, and the people in the cave agreed. Early in the morning on Friday, they came to the surface”, said Vladimir Provotorov, the chief official of Bekovsk raion.
He explained that nine people emerged from the cave, “and I would say that their condition is satisfactory and normal”. Mr Provotorov did not say where the hermits went after their emergence. He previously told us that rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police had completed their search for the bodies of two hermits who had allegedly passed away during the say in the cave in Penza oblast.
“The bodies of the two women were exhumed at around 01.00 this morning. The bodies were sent to a morgue for further forensic tests”, Oleg Melnichenko, deputy governor of the Penza oblast, told Interfax. Mr Melnichenko also said that the cult members who had remained underground were aware of the exhumation. “They took everything quietly”.
“A criminal case in connection with the two corpses in the cave thus far is not contemplated; it shall be decided after the completion of the forensic examination. It is important to establish the reason for the deaths”, a police source said. The same source said that the case for deportation of some Byelorussian citizens who were some of the hermits shall be heard shortly. One of them, Vabishchevich, was in the cave until recently. His wife and children were amongst the first hermits to leave the cave, but, they were not deported with the other Byelorussians because the head of the family remained underground.
Thirty-five cult members have taken refuge in the cave in the Nikolskoye village in Penza oblast since November 2007 waiting for “the end of the world”. On 28 March, seven women were persuaded to come out of the cave. On 1 April, another 14 people came out after two cells collapsed in the cave. On 2 April, a Byelorussian woman and her two children left the cave. Five Byelorussian women who were among the cult members returned to their home country.
Eleven people remained in the cave. Meanwhile, one of the cult members, Vitaly Nedogon, said as soon as he came out of the cave in late March that two women had died in the cave. Local authorities did not confirm the information at the time.
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24477 (in Russian)
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24480 (in Russian)
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24476 (in Russian)
