A 7-year-old girl, Sarah, was among five people who died in an overcrowded small boat in the English Channel, as they tried to reach the UK.
The BBC has spoken to Sarah’s father and pieced together what happened – and why the family was taking such a great risk to reach England.
Sarah was born in Belgium and grew up in Sweden. She was one of three children of Ahmed, who had fled Iraq in 2009 and spent years trying but failing to get permission to settle in Europe.
Instead the family faced deportation to Iraq, so Ahmed decided that the family would meet people smuggler’s on a beach at night in France and make the sea crossing to England. It was a desperate move that ended in tragedy.
Sophie Raworth presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Andrew Harding.
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