塞拉利昂洪水泥石流至少250人遇难

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.