Rescuers searched for survivors after the disaster on Lake Victoria in Tanzania, a few yards from the dock on Ukerewe – the lake’s biggest island – on Thursday.
State Radio TBC Taifa reported the Nyerere ferry was understood to have been carrying more than 400 people, although the official capacity was for just 100.
It overturned when crowds on deck and below moved to one side as it docked.
One resident, Editha Josephat Magesa, said: “I received a call telling me that I have lost my aunt, father and my younger brother.
“We are really saddened and urge the government to provide a new ferry because the old one was small and the population is big.”
Relatives desperately looking for their loved ones faced an anxious wait as rescue efforts resumed yesterday.
Tanzania’s police chief Simon Sirro Mwanza said last night that the death toll had risen to 136.
A total of 500 people lost their lives when a ferry capsized on Lake Victoria in 1996.