Almost 1,300 migrants arrived in Sicily on rescue ships over the weekend after crossing the Mediterranean, while a 16-year-old boy died on one of the ships, Italy's Coast Guard said.
Italy has seen migrants arriving by boat at a record-setting pace so far this year, with far more people braving the crossing from North Africa this year than in the previous three years, Italian figures showed on Friday.
Another 500 migrants were heading to Sicily and expected to arrive in the next couple of days, after being picked up from flimsy boats off the coast of Libya.