Italy's Coast Guard is taking nearly 1,000 migrants to southern ports from several different boat rescues, but 10 migrants died at sea.

The Coast Guard said its vessels and three cargo ships south of Sicily rescued 941 people in seven separate operations that began a day earlier.

The migrants had been aboard five motorised dinghies and two larger vessels. One of the migrant boats capsized.

Hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of migrants fleeing conflicts or poverty reach Italy each week on smugglers' boats setting sail from Libya.

The Coast Guard said the migrants claimed to be Syrians, Palestinians, Libyans, Tunisians or from sub-Saharan Africa.