Hundreds of migrants have been rescued at sea by the Italian coast guard over the weekend.

They were transferred to a Croatian coast guard ship operating under the international European scheme and brought to safety in Sicily.

About 450 of them were rescued from four separate dinghies about 35 miles north of the Libyan coasts.

Many were of Syrian origin, and included 108 women and 48 minors.

Traffickers have sent more than 90,000 migrants by sea to Italy so far this year, as migrants fleeing violence and poverty at home continue to pour in from Africa and the Middle East.