Sierra Leone puts Kono district on "lockdown", after discovery of scores of bodies

[Gert van der Hoek]

Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone bodies found piled up in Kono

Health officials in Sierra Leone have discovered scores of bodies in a remote diamond-mining area, raising fears that the scale of the Ebola outbreak may have been underreported.

The World Health Organization said they uncovered a "grim scene" in the eastern district of Kono.

A WHO response team had been sent to Kono to investigate a sharp rise in Ebola cases.

The WHO said in a statement on Wednesday that over 11 days in Kono, "two teams buried 87 bodies, including a nurse, an ambulance driver, and a janitor drafted into removing bodies as they piled up".

Bodies of Ebola victims are highly infectious and safe burials are crucial in preventing the transmission of the disease.

The response team also found 25 people who had died in the past five days piled up in a cordoned section of the local hospital.

Dr Olu Olushayo, a member of the WHO's Ebola response team, said:

"Our team met heroic doctors and nurses at their wits' end, exhausted burial teams and lab techs, all doing the best they could but they simply ran out of resources and were overrun with gravely ill people."

"We are only seeing the ears of the hippo," said Dr Amara Jambai, Sierra Leone's Director of Disease Prevention and Control.

Authorities in Sierra Leone have decided to put Kono district on "lockdown" from 10 to 23 December to try and contain the outbreak.

During the lockdown, no-one will be able to enter or leave the district but they can move around freely within it.

More: BBC News