塞拉利昂洪水泥石流至少250人遇難

Officials in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, say at least 250 people are dead after a mudslide and heavy flooding.

Relatives dug through the mud in search of their loved ones Monday while military personnel were deployed to help with the rescue operation.

Photos and video posted by local residents showed people chest deep in mud trying to traverse the roads.

The catastrophe in the early hours of Monday followed hours of heavy rains. Witnesses described a particularly-hard hit area in Regent saying roads became "churning rivers of mud."

A technician at a local Hospital mortuary, told state media that a lack of space is forcing workers to leave bodies on the floor.

He said the death toll will likely rise, as many people were sleeping in their homes when the flooding and mudslide happened.

A spokesman for the Red Cross told the French News agency that the group had accounted for at least 312 dead.

Officials estimate several thousand people have been left homeless.塞拉利昂首都弗里敦的官員說，至少有250人死於泥石流和嚴重的洪水。

星期一，人們在泥石中挖掘，尋找自己的親人。

與此同時，軍隊也出動，參與搜救行動。

當地居民上傳的照片和視頻顯示，人們在齊胸深的泥沼中奮力前行。

星期一凌晨發生泥石流前，當地經歷了好幾個小時的暴雨。目擊者形容利金特一處重災區，說那裏的道路已經變成了泥濘的河流。

當地醫院停屍房的一位工作人員告訴媒體說，停屍房沒有那麼多地方，很多屍體只能安放在地上。他還說，泥石流發生時很多人都在家裏睡覺，因此估計死亡人數還會上升。

紅十字會的一位發言人告訴法新社說，他們掌握的數字顯示，死者已有312人。

有關官員估計，泥石流還造成數千人無家可歸。