By More than 300 people have been killed after a mudslide and heavy flooding in Sierra Leone, UK Telegraph news website reports. Relatives, according to the report, were left digging through mud in search of their loved-ones, as a mortuary in the capital of Freetown was overwhelmed by bodies.
Houses were not left out in the misfortune as they “submerged in mud after a night of heavy rain that saw a hillside in the Regent area collapse, with roads described by witnesses as being turned into “churning rivers of mud”.
A coroner’s official confirmed that “more than 200 bodies had been taken to the city mortuary, which was left struggling to cope.” As at the time of press, according to the Red Cross, death toll had risen to 312.
UK Telegraph reveals that, an estimated 2,000 people have also been made homeless after heavy rains caused properties to disappear under water.
Sierra Leone’s Vice President, Victor Foh, in his comment on the weird flood said: “It is likely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble.” Adding that, “the disaster is so serious that I myself feel broken. We’re trying to cordon (off) the area (and) evacuate the people.”
The site of this occurrence has been most horrifying since the incident. People cried as they looked at the damage under steady rain, gesturing towards a muddy hillside where dozens of houses used to stand.
Sinneh Kamara, a coroner technician at the Connaught Hospital, informed local media that the number of those killed had overwhelmed the facility.
“The capacity at the mortuary is too small for the corpses,” Kamara told the Sierra Leone National Broadcasting Corporation.
As reported by UK Telegraph, Fatmata Sesay, a resident on the hilltop area of Juba “said she, her three children and husband were woken at 4.30am by rain beating down on their mud house, which was by then submerged by water.” And that “she only managed to escape by climbing onto the roof.”
“We have lost everything and we do not have a place to sleep.”
Correspondent: Ridwan A Olayiwola