Some 1,500 migrants have been rescued by Italian navy and coast guard ships in less than 24 hours, officials said Sunday.

Coast guard ships came to the aid of five boats in the southern Mediterranean on Saturday and managed to save all passengers.

The rescues were made as newly released figures show an increase of 43 per cent of migrant arrivals into the EU via Italy on the same period last year.

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Rescued: Migrants arrive in the port of Lampedusa on a boat of the Italian coastguard following a rescue operation off the coast of Sicily

The 1,500 migrants were rescued on Saturday by two coast guard ships and one navy ship in five separate operations, the coast guard said in a statement.

Three of the migrants' boats were in difficulty and sent rescue requests via satellite phones while they were off the coast of Libya.

As the coast guard came to the aid of the three boats in distress, they spotted two more trying to cross the sea.

The migrants were all transboarded onto the Italian ships and were being taken to either the island of Lampedusa or ports in Sicily, the statement said.

Saved: Some 1,500 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy in were rescued in one day

An Italian coast guard rescuerholds a baby as migrants arrive in the port of Lampedusa on Saturday

About 170,000 migrants entered the European Union through Italy last year by way of the dangerous sea crossing organised by human traffickers, most departing from Libya.

More than 3,000 perished.

During the first two months of this year, arrivals were up 43 per cent versus the same period of 2014, officials have said.