Official: More Than 200 People Dead in Sierra Leone Mudslides

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) —
In this image made available by Society 4 Climate Change Communication, Sierra Leone, mud and water flow in Freetown Sierra Leone, Monday. (Society 4 Climate Change Communication via AP)

Relatives dug through the mud in search of their loved ones and a morgue overflowed with bodies Monday after heavy rains and flooding early in the day killed at least 200 people in Sierra Leone’s capital.

Bodies were spread out on the floor of a morgue, Sinneh Kamara, a coroner technician at the Connaught Hospital mortuary, told the national broadcaster.

“The capacity at the mortuary is too small for the corpses,” he told the Sierra Leone National Broadcasting Corp.

Kamara urged the Health Department to deploy more ambulances, saying his mortuary only has four.

Military personnel have been deployed to help in the rescue operation currently ongoing, officials said.

Many of the impoverished areas of Sierra Leone’s capital are close to sea level and have poor drainage systems, exacerbating flooding during the West African country’s rainy season.

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