The Italian navy and coastguard ships rescued about 1,500 migrants aboard five boats in the southern Mediterranean in less than 24 hours.

All of the migrants were rescued on Saturday in five separate operations, the coastguard said.

Three of the migrants’ boats were in difficulty and sent rescue messages via satellite phones while they were off the coast of Libya. Italian vessels spotted the other two while heading towards the others.

The migrants were taken to either the island of Lampedusa or ports in Sicily. However, a pregnant Ivorian woman suffering from dehydration and exhaustion was airlifted to Malta. She was taken to Mater Dei Hospital where she was yesterday reported to be in a stable condition.

The Italian Mare Nostrum mission rescued more than 170,000 people last year in the Mediterranean. However, due to the worsening security situation in Libya, stakeholders are predicting an apocalyptic scenario this summer.

Some 500 migrants lost their lives in the first two months of this year, which normally are considered the ‘low season’, compared to about 3,000 throughout the whole of 2014.