Rain threatens Russian doomsday cult's bunker

NIKOLSKOE, Russia (Reuters) - Russian authorities urged 28 members of a doomsday cult on Sunday to leave the mud bunker in which they are awaiting the end of the world, saying spring rain may trigger its collapse at any time.

The doomsday cult members have been barricaded in an underground shelter dug out of a muddy hillside gully in the Penza region of central Russia since October.

They have been refusing to come out until the end of the world, which they predict will happen in late April or May.

"Negotiations to get the people out are ongoing, and we have explained that there is a danger of collapse if they remain in the cave," said Oleg Melnichenko, vice-governor of Penza region and head of the Russian government's operation here.

"Right now we are here to make sure they don't suffocate."

On Friday a small mud slide near the entrance to the dugout isolated seven women from the remaining cult members, forcing the women to abandon their refuge and relocate to a small wooden home in the village of Nikolskoe, 750 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow where they remain cloistered in prayer.

Four children remain inside the bunker.

The cult's spiritual leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov, ducked in and out of the dull grey wooden home where the women were sheltering, shielding his face from journalists.

Doctors had temporarily released him from a regional mental hospital, where he was undergoing court-ordered psychiatric treatment.