Sierra Leone to burry mudslide victims to free up morgue

Authorities and aid agencies in Sierra Leone are preparing to bury the bodies of the 400 mudslide victims in four different cemeteries across Freetown to relieve pressure on the morgue.

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

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.

“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.

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.

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.

Source: Reuters