The Italian coast guard said 3,690 migrants total were rescued late Saturday and early Sunday as more people attempted to flee their countries to try to reach Europe, Reuters reported.
Many of the migrants arrived in Italy's southernmost island, Lampedusa, while others will arrive as late as Monday, according to AP. Rescue operations are ongoing as Italy expects to find more people. The nationalities of the migrants are still unknown.
The large influx of migrants comes in the spring as human traffickers take advantage of calm seas. The good weather in spring and summer has pushed estimates of total migrant arrivals to 200,000 in 2015, 30,000 more than last year, Italy's interior ministry said.
Conflict in Libya has provided human traffickers a thriving business. An Italian court's investigation determined that people smugglers make an average of 80,000 euros ($90,000) for each boatload of migrants.
The EU has been facing criticism for its approach to combat human trafficking in the Mediterranean, initially decreasing rescue efforts to discourage migrants from travel.
Earlier this month a boat trying to reach Italy capsized off the coast of Libya, killing 800 migrants.
