"This is the sound of three teams on rigid-hull inflatable boats rescuing around 130 people from an overloaded rubber boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, around 2 in the morning on the 27th of December, 2022. 

"The rescuees, almost all of whom were from West Africa, were attempting to reach Europe from Libya - where they had suffered extensive abuse. Among them were many children, and one infant just weeks old. The crew of the charity rescue ship the Ocean Viking located, intercepted and then met the rubber boat, giving the survivors life jackets and slowly bringing them back to the main ship. 

"The survivors were eventually disembarked in Northern Italy, where they entered the Italian asylum system."

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