Freetown clears up after killer floods
Focus shifts to the 600 people still missing and thousands made homeless by Sierra Leone by deadly floods
Freetown — Concern shifted on Wednesday to the estimated 600 people still missing and thousands made homeless in Sierra Leone by deadly floods in the capital, as it emerged that at least a third of those killed were children. UN divisions said on Tuesday they were evaluating humanitarian needs in Sierra Leone, while the first Israeli aid packages were sent and the UK pledged support. Officials at Freetown’s central morgue said 105 of the more than 300 officially dead were children, and burials began on Tuesday for some of the bodies too mutilated to identify. An independent but unofficial morgue estimate put the toll at 400 dead. President Ernest Bai Koroma fought back tears on Tuesday as he visited the devastated hilltop community of Regent, saying the scale of the challenge ahead was "overwhelming us". "Entire communities have been wiped out," Koroma said. "We need urgent support now." The government of Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, has promised relief t...
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