Freetown - Rescue workers have recovered
270 bodies so far from a mudslide in the outskirts of Sierra
Leone's capital Freetown, the mayor said on Tuesday, as rescue
operations continued and morgues struggled to find space for all
the dead.
President Ernest Bai Koroma urged residents of Regent and
other flooded areas around Freetown to evacuate immediately so
that military personnel and other rescue workers could continue
to search for survivors that might be buried underneath debris.
Dozens of houses were covered in mud when a mountainside
collapsed in the town of Regent on Monday morning, one of the
deadliest natural disasters in Africa in recent years.
"We have a total of 270 corpses which we are now preparing
for burial," Freetown mayor Sam Gibson told reporters outside
city hall.
Bodies have continued to arrive at the city's central
morgue. Corpses are lying on the floor and on the ground outside
because the morgue is overloaded, a Reuters witness said.
"Our problem here is space. We are trying to separate,
quantify, and examine quickly and then we will issue death
certificates before the burial," said Owiz Koroma, head of the
morgue.
He did not have an updated death toll but said: "It's in the
hundreds, hundreds!"
FEAR OF DISEASE
Sierra Red Cross Society spokesman Abu Bakarr Tarawallie
said by phone he estimated that at least 3,000 people were
homeless and in need of shelter, medical assistance and food.
The Red Cross said another 600 were missing.
"We are also fearful of outbreaks of diseases such as
cholera and typhoid," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation
from Freetown. "We can only hope that this does not happen."
Contaminated water and water-logging often lead to
potentially deadly diseases like cholera and diarrhoea after
floods and mudslides.
Crowds of people gathered, waiting for news of missing
family members.
"I've been looking for my aunt and her two children, but so
far no word about them," said Mohamed Jalloh, crying. He said he
feared the worst.
President Koroma said in a television address on Monday
evening that rescue centres had been set up around the capital
to register and assist victims.
Bulldozers dug through mud and rubble at the foot of Mount
Sugar Loaf, where many residents had been asleep when part of
the mountainside collapsed. The government said a number of
illegal buildings had been erected in the area.