A Kurdish family had made Germany their home before they were faced with deportation - now they've paid thousands of pounds to people smugglers, and risked their lives, as they hope to start again in the UK.
In a hostel in northern France, the atmosphere was tense. A father and his family were waiting for a call, a sign sea conditions were right and it is finally time to go. After fleeing from Kurdistan, they've paid around €8000 to cross the Channel on a dinghy provided by smugglers who value money over life. 'We don't have any other option except this dinghy. The surveillance for the trucks is very strong and that is why we have to take this journey.
Last week the family was among them, cramming into a rickety vessel with around 60 others. 'It was a difficult and dangerous journey that no one was expecting to survive. We were all thinking that our lives would end in a matter of seconds,' Mohammed says. The boat left a French beach near Dunkirk at 10pm. After around an hour into the journey they ran out of fuel and then drifted for hours. The conditions meant children were screaming and crying.
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