Special report: hope, despair, and the deadly journey to Britain

Sarah Collins meets refugees waiting to cross the channel at Loon Plage in northern France

The day before I hear about the boat going down, I am standing in the sun in Dunkirk’s Loon Plage camp, where thousands of people seeking asylum wait to cross the English Channel.

I am with a charity that serves hot meals. As one man gets close to the front of the queue, he throws a few words in my direction. “Bonjour” he says, “I fell off the boat into…