The Italian navy has said it rescued more than 2,500 men, women and children from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily in under 24 hours, with good weather favouring departures from North Africa. Italian navy and coast guard ships monitoring the waters off the Libyan and Tunisian coasts have gone to the aid of 17 different boats in the past day, the navy said in a statement.

Italy set up Europe's biggest-ever search and rescue mission - called Mare Nostrum or "Our Sea" - almost eight months ago after 366 migrants fleeing African countries drowned when their boat capsized a mile from Sicily. The Mare Nostrum flagship, the San Giorgio, took aboard 998 migrants, including 214 women and 157 children, from five different vessels, and all five navy vessels deployed for the mission have carried out rescues in the past 24 hours, the navy said in a statement. "The improving weather and sea conditions have favoured the departures," the coast guard said in a separate statement.

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