A French Navy patrol ship rescued 297 migrants from a fishing boat in the southern Mediterranean on Wednesday, French police said.

The crew of the Commandant Birot provided food and water to the group, which included 51 women and children, and 16 people received medical treatment, the police statement said.

The 20-metre vessel was discovered about 300 km from the Italian coast by an Italian spotter plane.

The migrants, whose nationalities were not given, were due to be taken to a destination in Italy.

Around 30,500 of the migrants from Africa or the Middle East who have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year have landed in Italy, and about 1,800 have drowned in the attempt, the U.N. refugee agency says.