Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that relief items will be sent to Sierra Leone following the flood and devastating mudslides that has killed over 400 people in that country.
Mass burials are being held on the outskirts of the Sierra Leone capital Freetown for the 400 people known to have died in a mudslide and flooding.
President Ernest Bai Koroma is expected to join Christian and Muslim religious leaders for a ceremony at the site, in the nearby city of Waterloo, later.
The search continues for an estimated 600 people still missing since Monday.
Some 3,000 people are homeless in what is being described as a humanitarian emergency in the West African nation.
Mr. Akufo-Addo took to his twitter handle to express his sadness over the tragic incident and console the people of Sierra Leone.
I called President Ernest Bai Koroma on Tuesday to express my and the condolences of Ghanaians … (1/3)
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) August 17, 2017
… on the tragic loss of lives and property following Monday’s mudslide in Sierra Leone. (2/3)
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) August 17, 2017
Government is in the process of sending relief items to Sierra Leone to aid in the recovery process. (3/3)
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) August 17, 2017
Mortuaries have been overwhelmed by the number of bodies they have received – more than 100 of them are children.
With concern mounting about an outbreak of disease, the chief pathologist of Freetown, Dr Simeon Owizz Koroma, said the burials had already begun for those who had been identified or whose bodies were badly decomposed.
They have been taken to a mass grave in Waterloo known as the Ebola cemetery after the 2014 disease outbreak, which killed nearly 4,000 people in the country.
