Some 37 survivors have been found so far, but the ship was carrying at least 241 passengers when it sank on Tuesday night near the capital Freetown, the Al Jazeera news channel quoted Deputy Transport Minister Osmond Hanciles as saying. Only eight bodies have so far been recovered.
Many of the passengers were children coming back to Freetown to attend school at the beginning of the new term.
West Africa has been battered by heavy rains and storms in recent weeks, bringing flooding that has affected hundreds of thousands and left over 100 dead.
Published 10 September 2009, 17:13 IST