Hundreds of mudslide victims buried in Sierra Leone, search for hundreds missing goes on

Record ID: 906774

  • Title: Hundreds of mudslide victims buried in Sierra Leone, search for hundreds missing goes on
  • Date: 17th August 2017
  • Summary: MEN IN PROTECTIVE SUITS CARRYING COFFINS TO BURIAL SITE MEN LOWERING THE COFFIN INTO GRAVE MEN PUTTING COFFIN IN GROUND MEN CARRYING COFFINS VARIOUS OF MEN LOWERING COFFINS INTO THE GROUND POLICE VANS AND PRISON VANS AT SITE COFFINS IN PRISON VAN LIBERIAN PRESIDENT ELLEN SIRLEAF JOHNSON ARRIVING SIRLEAF JOHNSON AND SIERRA LEONE PRESIDENT BAI KOROMA ARRIVING SIRLEAF JOHNSON AND KOROMA WALKING WITH PROTECTIVE MASKS
  • Embargoed: 31st August 2017 22:27
  • Keywords: Sierra Leone mudslide victims mass burial grave digging severe weather
  • Location: WATERLOO, SIERRA LEONE
  • City: WATERLOO, SIERRA LEONE
  • Country: Sierra Leone
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Floods
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036UJR03R
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Burials began on Thursday (August 17) for 300 people killed in Sierra Leone's mudslide while the search went on for hundreds of others still missing.
    In a ceremony attended by President Ernest Bai Koroma, wooden coffins were lowered into hurriedly dug graves at a cemetery in Waterloo, as the country tried to begin recovering from one of Africa's worst flood disasters in living memory.
    At least 400 people were killed on Monday (August 14) when a torrent of mud swept away homes on the edge of Freetown. One hundred and fifty have already been buried.
    Meanwhile, the search for remaining bodies intensified at the mudslide site as aid agencies warned that corpses trapped in the mud are likely to contaminate water sources and cause outbreaks of disease.
    In total, approximately 600 people are missing, the Red Cross has said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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