Freetown (August, 15, 2017): At least 200 people have been killed in a mudslide near Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown.
A hillside in the Regent area collapsed early on Monday following heavy rains, leaving many houses covered in mud.
Sources said that many people were sleeping when the mudslide occurred. Sierra Leone’s Vice-President Victor Bockarie Foh said it was “likely that hundreds are lying dead”. The number of casualties is expected to rise.
Foh said that the disaster was “so serious that I myself feel broken”. He said that the area had to be cordoned off as people were evacuated, with many still feared trapped in their homes.
Locals were reportedly trying to recover bodies from the rubble and mud with their bare hands. The worst-hit area is thought to be the Regent district on the outskirts of Freetown, where dozens of houses were submerged when the hillside collapsed at about 06:00 GMT. A Red Cross spokesperson said that at least 205 bodies had been taken to the central morgue in Freetown.
Another spokesman for the Red Cross, Abubakarr Tarawallie said that the organisation’s volunteers and staff had been involved in search and rescue operations and that people affected were in immediate need of shelter and blankets.
He added that at least 100 properties had been submerged and that some had collapsed after a section of Sugar Loaf mountain came down before sunrise.
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