More than 900 migrants were rescued in four separate operations in the Strait of Sicily on Saturday and emergency services recovered one corpse, Italy's coast guard said.

Now into the second year of its worst migration crisis since World War II, Europe has seen more than 1.2 million people arrive since the beginning of 2015, most of them from Africa and the Middle East.

Italy's coast guard has continued to pick up migrants in trouble in the stretch of water between its southern coast and North Africa, although most people seeking a better life in Europe have taken less dangerous routes to Greece.

On Saturday, the Italian coast guard said it had rescued 378 migrants in two separate operations and found one body. Another 112 migrants were picked up by a vessel operated for the European Union border agency Frontex and another 420 people by a ship under the EU's EUNAVFOR mission in the Mediterranean.

The coast guard gave no details on the nationalities of the victim or those rescued.