Humanitarian ships picked up about 730 migrants on Sunday from rubber and wooden boats in the Mediterranean, adding to a lengthening list of rescue operations in recent days.

The migrants were picked up in seven separate rescue operations aboard three dinghies and four wooden craft, Italy's coast guard said on Sunday.

Save the Children SAR team leader Gillian Moyes, aboard the rescue vessel Vos Hestia, said the past few days had been extremely busy, following a pattern seen in recent weeks.