Death toll climbs as migrant boats sink off Djibouti

GODORIA, Jan 30 (Al Jazeera): The death toll from the sinking of two migrant boats off the coast of Djibouti has risen to 28, with perhaps 130 more still missing.

Two vessels carrying migrants departed from Godoria on the country's northeast coast on Tuesday morning but sank in heavy seas 30 minutes into the journey, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Five bodies were recovered immediately and the IOM said Djiboutian authorities found more dead on Wednesday.

"Twenty-three bodies were recovered this morning and the coastguard continues [its] search," IOM's chief of mission in Djibouti, Lalini Veerassamy, told AFP news agency.

Two people were recovered alive and Veerassamy said "a few" more survivors arrived at an IOM facility in the town of Obock on Tuesday evening.

The coastguard is still conducting search and rescue operations with patrol boats.

One survivor estimated there were 130 people on his boat but was not able to estimate the number of passengers on the other vessel.

The nationalities of the victims remained unclear, Veerassamy said.