More than 200 killed in Sierra Leone mudslide

More than 200 people werekilled when a mudslide struck the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown on Monday, sweeping away homesand leaving residents desperate fornews of missing family members.

The Red Cross said at least 205 bodies had been taken to thecentral morgue in Freetown. Police and military personnel wereat the scene in the mountain town of Regent searching for peopletrapped 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.

Standing in the rain, residents sobbed as they mournedfamily members and waited for news about the missing. Adama Kamara wept as she described a failed attempt to rescue her seven-week-old child.

"We were inside when we heard the mudslide approaching. Iattempted to grab my baby but the mud was too fast. She was covered alive," said Kamara, who escaped with bruises. She saidshe was not sure what had happened to her husband.

Another man said he had left early in the morning to buy bread.

When he returned, his wife, children, siblings and in-laws wereall dead.

The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies arerecovered, Red Cross spokesperson Abu Bakarr Tarawallie said.

Vice-President Victor Foh told Reuters at the scene: "It islikely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble." He
said a number of illegal buildings had been erected in the area.

"The disaster is so serious that I myself feel broken," hesaid. "We're trying to cordon the area, evacuate the people."

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

Community chief Fatmata Tarawallie said she had startedcalling for help at 4 a.m.but it did not comesoon enough.

"Now our community has sunk," she said.

Mudslides and floods are fairly common during the rainyseason in West Africa, where deforestation and poor townplanning has put residents at risk.

Canada's Foreign Affairs Department warned Canadians Monday to avoid travelling to the affected areas.

Dramatic images and video posted on social media show the extent of flooding and mudslides.

The local Sierra Leone groupSociety 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.