The death toll from Sierra Leone’s deadly mudslide has now hit 400, with more than 1,500 people still said to be missing, Sky News reports.
The mudslide occurred on the outskirts of the capital Freetown early on Monday morning, as housed were buried with people still sleeping.
Acording to Sky News, the country’s chief coroner, Seneh Dumbuya, said he expected the death toll would rise to more than 500.
A rescue mission is still going on to find the missing people.
“In nearly a decade of working on humanitarian response I’ve never witnessed anything so tragic,” the agency quotes Melanie Stern from charity ActionAid to say.
“I saw children clambering over the rubble and mud, desperately calling for their parents. So many people were trapped, trying to reach their loved ones,” she added.
President Ernest Bai Koroma asked residents of Regent and other flooded areas in Freetown to leave their homes so military personnel and other rescue workers could search for survivors.
More than 3,000 people are said to have been left homeless after the mudslide as the floods buried their houses.
