Heavy toll feared in Sierra Leone building collapse

FREETOWN: Rescue teams at a city in southern Sierra Leone struggled Thursday to reach labourers buried under a building that collapsed as they were working on it, rescue services said. A preliminary toll given by the local hospital said more than a dozen had been injured, but there were fears the final figure would be far higher.

The three-storey building crashed down on Wednesday in Bo, the country´s second largest city, located about 250 kilometres from the capital Freetown. More than 80 people were scheduled for work on the site at the time, but how many lay in the rubble was unclear, an official at the disaster management department told AFP by phone. There had also been women street hawkers at the site.