More than 400 people have died in mudslides and flooding in Sierra Leone with 600 people still missing in the stricken capital, the Red Cross said Friday, as Britain promised £5 million in fresh aid. “Today we are counting more than 400 people dead,” the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, Elhadj As Sy, told reporters in Geneva. An unofficial morgue estimate had previously put the toll at around 400 dead, but the figure had not been confirmed until Friday. “Our new support will provide basic life-saving supplies like food, water, shelter and clothing to people who have lost everything. The international community must follow our lead and step up to the plate,” said Britain’s International Development Secretary Priti Patel.

Source: Dhaka Tribune August 18, 2017 11:15 UTC