Italy's navy on Tuesday said it had rescued more than 1,000 migrants from three boats over the past 24 hours that were spotted by a helicopter and a drone.

"Out of the 1,049 migrants saved, 151 were women and 91 children including three babies," the navy said in a statement, adding that the migrants were transferred to navy ships and would arrive in Italy later Tuesday.

Italy began a navy operation "Mare Nostrum" -- ("Our Sea") a Latin reference to the Mediterranean -- after more than 400 migrants from Eritrea and Syria perished in twin tragedies off Italian shores in October 2013.