Italian Coast Guard rescued more than 500 migrants traveling from Libya on a fishing boat on Saturday.
The 539 migrants were found right off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa when they were rescued by officials, the BBC reported.
A Médecins Sans Frontières doctor reported that it appeared that some of the migrants had been physically abused, according to the medium.
A local media report said Italian officials were studying whether the immigrants could have been unjustly imprisoned in prison in Libya.
Migrants traveling from Libya and Tunisia have often made the dangerous crossing through the waters to Europe and the Italian island is considered one of the main European ports to which migrants access as they head to the mainland.
Migrants make the journey to escape the conflict of their countries or in search of a better life.
Lampedusa Mayor Toto Martello described it as “one of the largest landings in recent times”, according to the BBC, which had previously seen 1,000 immigrants arrive on the island at the same time over the course of a few hours in May.
Earlier this month, about 400 migrants from the Middle East and South Asia were rescued by two NGO boats that were right off the coast of Tunisia.
According to a Reuters witness, the migrant ship was dangerously overcrowded. The boat’s engine had stopped running and the boat was starting to fill up with water.
One humanitarian ship, Sea-Watch 3, welcomed 141 migrants while another ship, called the Ocean Viking, caught the remaining 253 migrants.