This is the sound of asylum seekers, mostly from West Africa, onboard the rescue ship the Ocean Viking in the Mediterranean, on the evening of the 27th of December 2022. 

Very early that morning, they had been rescued from a perilously overcrowded rubber boat in the middle of the sea, hundreds of kilometres from land and without life jackets or navigational equipment, with very little food and water, and an enginer that was close to failing. They had been at sea for longer than 24 hours. 

After what's known onboard the Ocean Viking as the "golden hour," where rescuees get the first rest they've had in a long time, the rescuees celebrated having survived the journey, utilising the drums kept onboard. Many of them recounted having tried multiple times to leave Libya, watching loved ones drown and nearly drowning themselves, before finally making it.

Recorded by Frey Lindsay.

Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. 

For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration