Kurdish village fears the worst for its loved ones after Channel disaster

Relatives await news on 10 men whose phones have gone silent and a map pin that remains stubbornly stuck halfway between Britain and France

Very little is known about the 27 people who drowned trying to cross the Channel in an inflatable boat on Wednesday, other than that many are thought to have come from northern Iraq.

In the Kurdish village of Ranya, families had been waiting for days for news from loved ones they knew were planning to attempt the perilous crossing on Wednesday, but whose phones had gone silent. Some hoped their sons, brothers, daughters and sisters had made it across the Channel and were now in detention centres in the UK. Others feared the worst.