A coalition of seafarer and shipowner unions has demanded the EU take “urgent action” to prevent further loss of life in the Mediterranean.

The International Chamber of Shipping will urge EU governments at an IMO meeting tomorrow to save the lives of thousands of migrants by intervening in the "humanitarian crisis" in the Mediterranean Sea.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has outlined the opportunity to disrupt Southern Europe through targeting “Crusader ships and tankers” in the Mediterranean, should it secure a sufficient foothold in Libya.

IMO Secretary General Koji Sekimizu has stated the imperative that disposable migrant ships do not form “a new trend” in the Mediterranean, indicating that the problem must be addressed “at the highest level”.

The Mediterranean became a hotspot for incidents involving migrant ships over the holiday period with two abandoned vessels, Blue Sky M and Ezadeen, leaving over 1,370 immigrants stranded off Italy.

ICS has published Guidance on Large Scale Rescue Operations at Sea, in response to the migration crisis “necessitating commercial ships to rescue tens of thousands of migrants and refugees during 2014”.