Over 300 Confirmed Dead And More Than 600 Missing In Sierra Leone Mudslide

Rescuers have recovered over 300 bodies following Monday’s deadly mudslide on the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital, the country’s tourism minister said Wednesday. 297 bodies have been brought to the overwhelmed city morgue, including those of 105 men, 83 women and 109 children. A further seven bodies were found at the site on Wednesday morning, raising the death toll to 304 people.Around 600 people are still unaccounted for after heavy rains struck the Regent district in the early hours of Monday morning, causing torrents of mud to wash down Mount Sugar Loaf about five miles outside the capital Freetown.Houses that hugged the slopes, many of them little more than wooden shacks with tin roofs, were buried after a chunk of the mountain came down under the force of the water. Numbers are expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue for a third day in one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit Africa in recent years. A mass burial is planned for Wednesday and Thursday in an effort to free up space in the struggling mortuaries.