Italian emergency service workers said today they were alarmed about how many unaccompanied minors were now being picked up at sea as the flow of migrant traffic continues across the Mediterranean.

Some 548 migrants were brought to shore at Palermo today, with some 130 of the number made up of adolescents around the ages of 14-17 years-old, who had no family member with them.

Emergency services separate the minors who are unaccompanied from the other migrants as they arrive, and they are taken to special holding centres where their needs can be more adequately catered for.

Around 4,400 migrants have been rescued over the last few days with more rescue operations reported to still be underway.