Nairobi/Freetown, Sep 10 (DPA) More than 200 people were missing and feared dead after a boat sank off Sierra Leone's coast during a heavy storm, the government said Thursday.

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.

Poor maintenance and overcrowding often lead to boat accidents in the region.