Italy says that 4000 immigrants have reached its shores by boat in the past two days - the highest number since it launched a naval operation to rescue them in the wake of two shipwrecks last year.
"The landings are non-stop and the emergency is increasingly glaring," Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told Rai Uno public radio on Wednesday.
"Right now, two merchant ships are rescuing two boats with 300 and 361 people aboard. It appears there's at least one corpse on board," he said.
Alfano estimated that 15,000 migrants crossing the Mediterranean had been rescued so far this year and said up to 600,000 migrants from Africa and the Middle East were ready to set off from Libyan shores.
"Europe must take the situation in hand. It cannot say that, having given 80 million euros ($A118.67 million) to Frontex, the problem has been resolved," he said, referring to the European Union's border control agency.
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