Mudslides kill over 200 in Sierra Leone

Relatives rooted through the mud desperately searching their loved one and a morgue overflowed with bodies Monday after heavy rains and flooding killed at least 200 people in the capital of Sierra Leone.

Bodies were spread out on the floor of a morgue, Sinneh Kamara, a coroner technician at the Connaught Hospital mortuary, told the national broadcaster early Monday.

"The capacity at the mortuary is too small for the corpses," he told the Sierra Leone National Broadcasting Corp.

Kamara urged the health department to deploy more ambulances, saying his mortuary only has four.

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

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

Many of the impoverished areas of Sierra Leone's capital are close to sea level and have poor drainage systems, exacerbating flooding during the West African country's rainy season.