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Two merchant ships and an Italian coastguard vessel rescued more than 600 migrants near the Libyan coast on Saturday.
The distressed migrants had phoned for help from their packed rubber boats.
The rescue was the second of its kind in two days and follows the deaths of more than 300 people last week.
The coastguard said the rescue vessels had located six boats drifting about 50 miles offshore after receiving calls for help by satellite telephone.
The coastguard ship Peluso conducted the rescue a day after about 700 migrants were plucked from overcrowded boats.
Last week’s deaths reignited criticism of Italy’s decision to end its full-scale search and rescue mission last year.
It was replaced with an EU border control operation called Triton with fewer ships over a smaller area.
