More than 600 brought ashore at Sicily's Catania port and another 2,500 picked from boats off Libya coast, reports say.

Almost 3,600 migrants have reportedly been rescued from overcrowded boats sailing from Africa to Europe over the past 48 hours, with sea conditions seen as perfect for attempting the crossing.

While more than 600 migrants were brought ashore at the port of Catania in Sicily on Thursday, rescuers picked another 2,500 from boats off the coast of Libya, Italy's coastguard said.

Most of those who arrived in Catania had been picked up by the British warship HMS Bulwark and were Somali and Nigerian, Catania port officials said.
With Libya engulfed in strife, people smugglers are increasingly free to pack migrants onto unsafe boats, and they are expected to push total arrivals in Italy for 2015 to 200,000, an increase of 30,000 over last year, according to an Italian interior ministry projection.
Sandra Dike, a heavily pregnant 20-year-old Nigerian woman, said she left her home country because of the danger of attacks by the Boko Haram