FREETOWN, (Reuters) – A boat carrying children in  Sierra Leone back from their school holidays capsized in a heavy  storm off the capital Freetown, killing at least 80 of its 150  passengers, police said yesterday.

Emergency services rescued 36 people and were continuing the  search for more survivors from the wreck on Tuesday, federal police spokesman Ibrahim Samuro told reporters.

“The rest are still missing. The vessel cannot be traced,”  Samuro said of the search effort off the coast by Freetown’s  Tombo suburb.

“Most of the dead were children between the ages of eight  and 16 years old,” Sam Bangura, a senior police officer, told  Reuters earlier, adding that the boat capsized when it drifted  into a heavy storm and its engine failed.

Abu Essay, one of the survivors, said most of the victims  were children returning from the town of Waterloo, 12 km (7.5  miles) away from Freetown, where they had spent their holidays.

Lack of maintenance and over-crowding mean such accidents  are frequent in West Africa, which is currently being battered  by seasonal storms and heavy rain that on land have already  killed more than 160 people and displaced thousands more.