Sierra Leone holds mass burial for mudslide victims

The Sierra Leonean government has announced its intention to give mass burial for the victims of Monday’s mudslides that hits the outskirt of the capital, claiming nearly 300 lives.

National Daily gathered from an international media that the mass burial may likely be intended to free up space for more bodies in the central morgue since the mudslide wiped out entire families with nobody to claim the bodies.

No fewer than 286 people were killed when a mudslide struck the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown on Monday, sweeping away homes and leaving residents desperate for news of missing family members.

The Red Cross said at least 205 bodies had been taken to the central morgue in Freetown. Police and military personnel were at the scene in the mountain town of Regent searching for people trapped in the debris.

Many people living at the foot of Mount Sugar Loaf were asleep when the mountainside collapsed, burying dozens of houses, including two-storey buildings, witnesses said. 

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According to one of the survival, Adama Kamara, the mudslide came unannounced. “We were inside when we heard the mudslide approaching. I attempted to grab my baby but the mud was too fast. She was covered alive,” said Kamara, who escaped with bruises. She said she was not sure what had happened to her husband. 

An excavator plowed away at the mountainside, and ambulances rushed back and forth to the city centre with bodies and wounded, but rescue efforts were hampered by bad roads and the weather.

Mudslides and floods are fairly common during the rainy season in West Africa, where deforestation and poor town planning has put residents at risk. 

The local Sierra Leone group Society 4 Climate Change Communication, which said its volunteers had shot photos and videos of the disaster, also posted grim images of bodies lying in orange mud in the streets.