Russia doomsday cult prays for sign to leave bunker

By Chris Baldwin

NIKOLSKOE, Russia (Reuters) - Fourteen members of a Russian doomsday cult on Tuesday abandoned the remote underground bunker where they had been hiding for nearly half a year awaiting the end of the world.

The local chief negotiator said 14 cult members who remained underground would spend the night in the bunker praying for a sign from God that it was time for them to come out.

"They understand this is a chance the Lord is giving them," said Oleg Melnichenko, deputy governor of the Penza region where cult members have been holed up since October.

"They will pray all night in the hopes that a sign comes to them to leave their bunker," he told reporters as the light faded after a day of negotiations with members of the cult.

The group that came out of the bunker early on Tuesday included two girls aged 8 and 12. The negotiator said they decided to leave after a section of their dugout collapsed, the latest in a series of cave-ins.

"All are in good health, considering they have spent half a year underground," said Melnichenko.

"They have refused medical attention and are now in a house, praying, where they say they will stay until Orthodox Easter (on April 27) ... They said that God had given them a signal to leave."

The sect is an ultra-devout splinter group of the Russian Orthodox church. They reject processed food and say bar codes on products are the work of Satan.