Five dead, 130 missing as 2 migrant boats sink off Djibouti: IOM

Five people are dead and about 130 missing off the coast of Djibouti after two boats carrying migrants capsized, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred about 30 minutes after the overloaded boats set off in heavy seas from Godoria on the Horn of Africa nation's northeast coastline, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

"After being alerted by local residents, a team of gendarmerie gathered this afternoon near the reported site of the disaster and discovered two survivors as well as the remains of three women and two men," IOM said in a statement.

One survivor estimated there were 130 people on his boat, but wasn't able to say the number of passengers on the other vessel.

"The coast guard was also alerted and launched search and rescue operations. Those operations are still underway with two patrol boats," said the statement.

Located across the Bab el-Mandeb strait from war-torn Yemen and next to volatile Somalia and Ethiopia, Djibouti