Survivors of a double shipwreck that happened around 14 miles south of Lampedusa have told their stories between tears. Among them is one Somali woman who lost her son and husband.

"I had my son of a year and a half in my arms and my husband was next to us. Then all hell broke loose. I lost both amid the waves," said the woman, crying.

Sixty migrants survived when the first of two vessels began to leak and those on board managed -- or at least in part -- to transfer onto another that wasn't far away.

The second boat then capsized due to the weight.

Some passengers tried to hold onto parts of the half-sunken boat while others disappeared amid the waves.

During talks with psychologists and security forces, another Somali woman said that she had lost her younger sister, while a young Egyptian man said that he had lost his uncle and a cousin who was with him on the boat.

"We had left with two boats. One capsized, and thus we all got on the other. The other, however, began to take water on board as well," one of the survivors told volunteers from Mediterranean Hope who assisted them after they disembarked.

"I also lost my dear friend," said another young man of Egyptian origins. "We all ended up in water."

Read AlsoCentral Mediterranean: 3 migrants missing after attempt to reach boat to get aid

'Some kneeled at our feet'

"Some of them, as soon as they arrived on land, fell to their knees in front of us to thank God that they had arrived safe and sound after a crossing that had begun in Libya," said one of the Red Cross workers.

"When we offered them water, they looked at us as if we were giving them some sort of immense gift," the worker said.

"One young man was hugged by his travel companions and he told us that he had lost his brother. He is very young. Another one, an Egyptian, said he had lost three cousins.

"This morning, when we found out about the shipwreck, we were ready to prepare milk and children's kits, but they never arrived," the worker added.

According to some of the survivors, on the first boat, there were 45 migrants, on the second, some say there were 46, others say 52.

The boats reportedly departed from Zawiya and passed -- for some unknown reason -- by Tripoli. After about an hour or travel, the boat with 45 migrants began to take on water and the migrants moved onto the other.

"We welcomed the survivors, exhausted from the journey and what happened but in relatively good condition. Our team took charge of them and is taking care of them and their needs," said the deputy director of the Lampedusa hotspot Cristina Palma.

Read Also Italy: One dead, several missing as migrant boat sinks near Lampedusa