意大利海岸警卫队说，意大利海军响应20多艘船只发出的求救请求，在利比亚沿海救起三千多难民。
意大利一直在采取类似救援行动，将数百名难民救上岸，但是星期六的行动规模异常大。
截至目前，今年有10万多人越过地中海抵达意大利。不过旅程非常危险，小型船只要么在波涛中挣扎，要么因人太多而超载。
2300多人今年试图抵达欧洲时遇难。2014年全年有3279人遇难。
欧洲疲于应对大量难民涌入。难民经常首先在意大利和希腊上岸，然后他们有时前往欧洲北部国家，那里的许多社区欢迎他们，而有的社区则抗议他们的到达。
Italy's coast guard says the navy has rescued 3,000 migrants off the coast of Libya after responding to requests for help from more than 20 vessels.
Italy has been routinely carrying out similar rescues, bringing hundreds of migrants to its shores, but the scale of Saturday's operation was unusually large.
So far this year, more than 100,000 people have made the Mediterranean crossing to Italy. The journey is dangerous, with small boats struggling in rough waters or overloaded with too many people.
More than 2,300 people have died trying to reach Europe this year. There were 3,279 fatalities for all of 2014.
Europe has struggled to cope with an influx of migrants. They often first land in Italy and Greece, and then sometimes head to Europe's northern countries, where some communities have welcomed them and others have protested their arrival.
