Migrants on a Marina Militare vessel during a rescue operation by the Italian navy off the coast of Sicily.
The Italian navy rescued more than 1 000 migrants in the 24 hours to Friday from boats trying to reach Europe, authorities said, as the immigration crisis that has killed hundreds in the past year shows no signs of easing.
Navy helicopters spotted four overcrowded boats struggling to stay afloat south of Sicily on Thursday and ships were sent to rescue the migrants, the navy said.
The 823 men, women and children aboard the four vessels were from countries including Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and Tunisia.
The navy rescued 233 migrants from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia, Mali and Pakistan in a separate operation and took them to a port near Syracuse on Sicily's eastern coast.
Italy launched a special operation combining ships, helicopters and drones to monitor the Mediterranean Sea following an October shipwreck in which 366 Eritrean migrants drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Italy is a major gateway into Europe for many migrants seeking a better life and sea arrivals to the country from North Africa more than tripled in 2013, fuelled by refugees from Syria's civil war and strife in the Horn of Africa.
Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean island of Malta have bore the brunt of migrant flows over the past two decades, and have urged a co-ordinated European Union response. – Reuters