No Pinoys hurt in Sierra Leone mudslides –DFA

No Filipinos were hurt in the massive mudslides that struck Sierra Leone on 

No Filipinos were hurt in the massive mudslides that struck Sierra Leone on Monday, leaving hundreds dead, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.Monday, leaving hundreds dead, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.
The DFA, citing Philippine Ambassador to Abuja Shirley Ho-Vicario, said the embassy has not received any report that any of the 115 Filipinos in Sierra Leone were affected by the mudslides that engulfed houses in Regent town.
"We are closely monitoring the situation to make sure that all our kababayans in Sierra Leone are safe and accounted for," Ho-Vicario said.
A mountainside collapsed on Monday morning in Regent, burying dozens of homes as people slept and killing at least 400. Women and children were hit the hardest in what is one of Africa's deadliest mudslides in decades.
Rescue workers have uncovered about 400 bodies so far, but that number is likely to surpass 500 as the search persists, Freetown's chief coroner Seneh Dumbuya said.
DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano expressed the Philippines' condolences to the families of those who perished in the tragedy.
"We extend our sympathy and prayers to Sierra Leone and its people who lost loved ones in the mudslides in Freetown," he said in a statement.
The mudslides left some 3,000 people homeless while another 600 are missing, according to the Red Cross. —KBK/KVD, GMA News

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