Hundreds have queued outside a mortuary in Freetown to search for their loved ones, following a mudslide on Monday that has claimed at least 400 lives. A further 600 people are still unaccounted for, according to the Red Cross, which has continued to search for bodies buried in the debris. Recovery efforts have been hampered by the country’s dangerous terrain, a lack of equipment and the sheer scale of the tragedy.A week of national mourning commenced on Wednesday, with a minute’s silence held at midday in memory of the victims. A national emergency has been declared and the country’s security level has been moved to three, the highest status. The deputy health minister, Madina Rahman, said Freetown was now facing a possible cholera outbreak, as a result of the contaminated water pooling in the streets and bodies lying in the open.The UN is also assessing the threat of another mudslide or further flooding. Linnea Van Wagenen, working for the UN in Sierra Leone, said on Tuesday: “We have the mountains and very steep hillsides. [It’s very hard to] access these areas, where it’s muddy, it’s slippery – there’s a risk of a second landslide. We’re not sure how this massive landslide has affected the ground around it.”(theguardian)…[+]