Italian authorities rescued more than 800 refugees in the strait between Sicily and Tunisia on Friday.
Two Italian naval ships picked up 400 people as part of the new Mare Nostrum program set up in the aftermath two disasters earlier in October, when more than 400 migrants died at sea trying to reach Europe from Africa, Italian newswire ANSAmed reports.
Coast Guard vessels and a re-routed Panamanian merchant ship rescued several hundred migrants off the coast of the island of Lampedusa in separate operations.
[ANSAmed]