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Reuters

Business

Christo Johnson and Umaru Fofana

Nearly 400 bodies recovered from Sierra Leone mudslide: coroner

QUALITY REPEAT: Rescue workers search for survivors after a mudslide in the Mountain town of Regent, Sierra Leone, August 14, 2017. Pictures taken August 14, 2017. Sierra Leone Red Cross/Handout via REUTERS

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Rescue workers have recovered nearly 400 bodies from a mudslide in the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, the chief coroner said on Tuesday, as morgues struggled to find space for all the dead.

Dozens of houses were buried when a mountainside collapsed in the town of Regent on Monday morning - one of the deadliest natural disasters in Africa in recent years.

Kelvin Kamara speaks to the camera as he gestures to gushing water in the town of Foulah, following a mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, in this still image obtained from a social media video taken August 14, 2017. Video taken August 14, 2017. Kelvin Kamara and Fuhard Sesay / Social Media Website via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.

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 who might be buried underneath debris.

"As the search continues, we have collected nearly 400 bodies - but we anticipate more than 500," chief coroner Seneh Dumbuya told Reuters.

Hundreds of other people are missing, aid agencies said.

Residents commute though floodwater in the town of Foulah, following Monday's mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, in this still image obtained from a social media video taken August 15, 2017. Kelvin Kamara and Fuhard Sesay / Social Media Website via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.

Bodies continued to arrive at Freetown's overwhelmed central morgue on Tuesday. Corpses were lying on the floor and on the ground outside for lack of room, 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, who also estimated the death toll to be in the hundreds.

To relieve pressure on the morgue, authorities and aid agencies were preparing to bury the bodies in four different cemeteries across Freetown, said Idalia Amaya, an emergency response coordinator for Catholic Relief Services.

Rescue workers search for survivors after a mudslide in the Mountain town of Regent, Sierra Leone, August 14, 2017. Pictures taken August 14, 2017. Sierra Leone Red Cross/Handout via REUTERS

The burials are expected to take place on Thursday, government spokesman Cornelius Deveaux said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres is providing hundreds of body bags to authorities that the medical charity kept in Sierra Leone after the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak which killed 4,000 people in the former British colony.

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."

Damage and gushing water is seen in the town of Foulah, following Monday's mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, in this still image obtained from a social media video taken August 15, 2017. Kelvin Kamara and Fuhard Sesay / Social Media Website via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.

Contaminated water and water-logging often lead to potentially deadly diseases like cholera and diarrhea 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 a tearful Mohamed Jalloh. He said he feared the worst.

People inspect the damage after a mudslide in the mountain town of Regent, Sierra Leone August 14, 2017. REUTERS/ Ernest Henry

President Koroma said in a television address on Monday evening that rescue centers 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.