A hillside in the Regent area collapsed early on Monday following heavy rains, leaving many houses covered in mud.

A BBC reporter at the scene says many people may have been asleep when the mudslide occurred.

The number of casualties is not yet known but Sierra Leone's Vice-President Victor Bockarie Foh said it was "likely that hundreds are lying dead".

Mr Foh told Reuters news agency that the disaster was "so serious that I myself feel broken", adding that the area was being cordoned off as people were being evacuated.

The AFP news agency is reporting that at least 180 people have been killed, citing an official at the city's Connaught Hospital. Dozens of bodies have so far been retrieved.

A local Red Cross spokesperson told the same news agency the total death toll from flooding in the capital had risen to 312.

Hundreds of people are likely to be left homeless following the mudslide.