Six people were confirmed dead Monday and 31 others were still missing from a ferry disaster off the coast of Gabon as divers found the wreck and searched for more bodies, authorities said.

The privately-owned Esther Miracle went down in calm waters overnight Wednesday to Thursday carrying 161 passengers and crew from the capital Libreville to the oil town of Port-Gentil.

Dozens of relatives of the missing and those supporting them have been waiting for days on the Libreville dock.

But pain has turned to anger amid accusations the authorities have failed to keep them properly informed and that rescuers were too late to arrive on the scene.

Officials said 124 of the 161 passengers and crew survived. The wreck was located Sunday "about 30 metres deep and in a sitting position," the ship's captain Bekele Meyong said Monday on Gabon state television, as he coordinated recovery efforts.

He added the wreck was about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the coast near the entrance of the gulf sheltering Libreville.

Three bodies were found on Sunday and three more on Monday.

"We will not stop the search until we locate the wreck and are sure we have brought up all the bodies," Prime Minister Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze said on Sunday before the ferry had been located.

On Monday, around 100 relatives and friends lit candles and placed flowers on the dock where the ship left last week.

Under tents, some prayed in silence while others chanted their despair.

"It's pathetic. For a rescue (required) of this scale, we did not even see the minimum," said 49-year-old Eve Mouanambatsi, four of whose family members are missing.

"The distress signal was launched at two in the morning from the boat and we understand the public authorities did nothing at all," she said.

Instead, it was left to a barge from a private company to come to the rescue, albeit hours later, she said, referring to the accounts of survivors and their families.

Libreville public prosecutor Andre Patrick Roponat told AFP on Thursday an inquiry had been launched to see whether negligence, poor maintenance or "factors beyond human control" caused the accident.

Social and mainstream media raised questions over the state of the ship and sailing permits given to a vessel allowed to carry both cargo and passengers.

It is not clear how old the vessel was but it was owned by the private firm Royal Cost Marine (RCM).

AFP was unable to reach RCM for comment.

It had been inaugurated in November after it was fitted with a cabin for passengers at prices below those offered by other companies between Libreville and Port Gentil, 150 kilometres to the south, according to the ship owner's web site.

Pending the outcome of the investigation, the Gabonese government suspended overnight passenger ship voyages until at least March 31 and ordered an audit of all passenger vessels.

Most of the 124 survivors were picked up off Libreville after dawn on Thursday by locals in dugout canoes, fishermen, an oil barge and a navy patrol boat.

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© Agence