OVER 200 KILLED IN SIERRA LEONE MUDSLIDE
Over 200 people, including children are reported to have been killed by mudslide brought on by heavy rain.
Affected areas are Regent and Mortema.
Other areas of Freetown seriously affected are: Kissy Brook and Dworzak Farm communities.
People are also reportedly trapped which is causing difficulty for Emergency services to rescue victims.
The army has joined the police and survivors in helpimg to rescue people and recover the dead.
A Sierra Leonean disaster management official, Candy Rogers, said that “over 2,000 people are homeless” as a result of the mudslide in the Regent area, AFP reports.
Sierra Leone’s Vice-President Victor Bockarie Foh said it was “likely that hundreds are lying dead”. The total number of casualties is likely to rise.
Mr Foh told Reuters news agency that the disaster was “so serious that I myself feel broken”. He said that the area was being cordoned off as people were being evacuated, including many still feared trapped in their homes.
“We were asleep when we heard the noise of one of the walls falling down. By the time we got up water was flowing in and the whole house was flooded,” Salimatu Bangura who survived but lost her brother.
Reports Reuter, BBC, Aljazeera, CNN and Sierra Leone Telegraph.
As at the time of writing this, Guardian is reporting that death toll has risen to over 300.
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