Sierra Leone Embarks on Mudslide Survivors Search as the Death Toll is Expected to Rise (See Photos)

Following a mudslide that washed away houses after part of Sugar Loaf mountain collapsed in Sierra Leone`s capital Freetown,  a search for other bodies believed to have been concealed underneath the mud has been launched as also the death toll is expected to rise.

According to Freetown mayor, Sam Gibson, a total of 300 people have been confirmed dead but there is a belief that the number could rise as the search for other bodies and survivors ends.

One of the survivors who is a woman known as Adama, told BBC that she was still in search of her baby who  is believed to have been underneath the mud.

“We were inside. We heard the mudslide approaching. We were trying to flee. I attempted to grab my baby but the mud was too fast. She was covered, alive.

“I have not seen my husband, Alhaji. My baby was just seven weeks old.”

Flooding is not unusual in Sierra Leone, where unsafe housing in makeshift settlements can be swept away by heavy rains.

The rains often hit areas in and around Freetown, an overcrowded coastal city of more than one million people.

In 2015, Freetown endured deadly floods sparked by monsoon rains that killed 10 people and left thousands more homeless.