The Italian Navy released video footage today showing one of their busiest ever weekends where they assisted nearly 4,000 migrants who were found crowded on boats off the Italian coast.
Italian navy frigates are carrying hundreds of migrants and bringing them to a variety of Italian ports.
The frigate Scirocco landed 323 migrants on Saturday in Naples.
The Frigate Fasan carrying 1,040 migrants is en route for Salerno and the Amphibious Ship San Giusto is carrying 1,593 migrants and is heading for port in Reggio Calabria.
The civil war in Syria and breakdown of order in Libya have pushed the number of sea-borne arrivals in Italy to a record of more than 100,000 this year, straining the resources of its navy and coastguard.
Italy's navy has been patrolling the waters between Africa and Sicily since October, when 366 people drowned after their boat capsized just a mile from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
That prompted the launch of the "Mare Nostrum" or "Our Sea" search and rescue mission which has been costing Italy €9m a month.
But Italy has repeatedly called for Frontex, Europe's border control agency, to take over Mare Nostrum and for other member states to share the burden.
Frontex Plus will be launched in November as the EU prepares to take over the burden from Italy.
