Around 1,500 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean on Thursday and Friday in operations involving the Italian navy and ships chartered by NGOs and the EU border agency Frontex, the Italian coastguard said. On Friday alone, seven separate operations picked up 1,050 people as they tried to make the crossing to Europe. The operations were coordinated by the Italian coastguard.

The German NGOs Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye said they had rescued nearly half the total picked up -- 450 -- from three overcrowded vessels. As the occupants of the third boat were being picked up, a Libyan patrol boat came on the scene prompting some of the migrants to jump into the water to avoid being taken back to Libya. The Libyan vessel, however, maintained its distance and all the migrants were rescued by the two NGOs.