The Italian navy rescued more than 4,000 migrants in 48 hours from several overcrowded boats run by "merchants of death" in the Mediterranean between Tuesday and Wednesday morning, Reuters reported.
The migrants, who included women and children, had set off from the North African coast and were trying to reach European shores, the country's interior minister said on Wednesday.
"The emergency is getting worse and there is no halt to the boats arriving," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told state-owned RAI radio. "This issue is serious and Europe must take it in hand, immediately, because this is not a Mediterranean border but a European border."
"As we speak, there are people smugglers, merchants of death, earning and profiting from human beings, from the death of other men," he added.
Over the past two days, 91 women and three babies from a group of 1,049 migrants were rescued after being spotted by a navy helicopter and a drone. The boats had run into some difficulty, while the passengers were not equipped with life jackets.
After being rescued, the migrants were brought to ports on the island of Sicily, according to Reuters.
Italian forces alerted two commercial vessels on Wednesday, helping them aid 661 people in distress. One migrant was reported to have died during the journey on the boats, Alfano said.
"Turmoil in Libya -- which is grappling with chaos and rampant militias three years after the ousting of Mohammad Gadhafi -- has also increased the numbers risking the perilous sea journey from North Africa to try to reach Europe," Reuters reported.
Often, trips are shorter, less risky and more profitable when sea conditions are good, he said.
More than 12,000 illegal migrants were detected off Sicily and 8,000 off Lampedusa in the third quarter of last year, according to the European border agency Frontex.
Migrants keep coming to survive despite the dangers, CNN reported.
