BEVERLY HILLS, August 14, (THEWILL) – No fewer than 312 people have lost their lives to a mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone capital.

According to the local Red Cross Spokesman, Patrick Massaquoi, the toll could rise further as his team continued to survey disaster areas in Freetown, where heavy rains have caused homes to disappear under water and triggered a mudslide.

Sierra Leone Vice-President, Victor Foh, on Monday, stated that many people were still buried underneath the debris.

“It is likely that hundreds are lying dead underneath the rubble,” Foh told Reuters at the scene of the mudslide saying a number of illegal buildings had been erected in the area hit by the mudslide.

“The disaster is so serious that I myself feel broken. We’re trying to cordon (off) the area (and) evacuate the people.”

A morgue technician at Freetown’s Connaught Hospital, Mohamed Sinneh, described the casualty figure as overwhelming, saying that the facility had been filled up with bodies.

 “I counted over 300 bodies and more are coming,” he added.

Meanwhile, rescue workers were trying to reach those trapped, after buildings were submerged in two areas of the city.

Sierra Leone’s national television broadcaster interrupted its regular programming to show scenes of people trying to retrieve their loved ones’ bodies while others were seen carting relatives’ remains in rice sacks to the morgue.

Military personnel have been deployed to help in the rescue operation, officials said.

Many of the impoverished areas of Freetown are close to sea-level and have poor drainage systems, worsening flooding during the rainy season.