Spanish engineers are developing a specially-adapted drone that can aid lifesaving migrant search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

The ship is currently near the Italian island of Lampedusa but Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said it should "go to Hamburg" as it is German-registered.

The EU must look at Libya beyond the lens of curbing migration. This approach has exacerbated conflict in the country and fuelled violence and human rights abuses.

The UNHCR has warned of a likely rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of the European Parliament elections in May even though the number of migrant arrivals in Europe fell last year, to a four-year low.

Keen to block migration, European governments invented a work-around to circumvent their legal obligations: they gave the Libyan Coast Guard support to intercept people at sea and return them to Libya.

“With the plan as it stands now, there will be less Mediterranean fish on the tables in France, Italy and Spain", said Oceana Europe Executive Director Lasse Gustavsson.

Premeditated legal charges, smears and accusations may have forced Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS MEDITERRANEE to cease their search and rescue operations, but they will not stop NGOs trying to save lives in the Mediterranean.

The Doctors Without Borders and SOS Méditerranée ship has said it has terminated its search and rescue operations due to pressure from European countries.

The 12 migrants were rescued in international waters off the coast of Libya by a small Spanish fishing boat.

A Spanish migrant rescue ship has been docked for over two months, waiting for authorities to grant it the last signature it needs to take to the Mediterranean Sea.

Rescue workers are searching for survivors after at least 17 migrants died trying to reach Spain from north Africa.