Tensions are rising on a DFDS ro-pax as 12 North African migrants are kept on the vessel plying between Turkey and Ukraine.

The group has been stuck on the 25,600-gt Kaunas Seaways (built 1989) for seven weeks, locked in four guarded cabins, as neither country will accept them.

They have been travelling between Istanbul and Odessa, Reuters reported.

DFDS said the men have been violent and threatened suicide.