In fact, I was yards away from a dinghy as dozens of people attempted to climb on to an unseaworthy boat. I’ve uploaded the videos I took so you can see for yourself.

With the waves crashing into my legs, I watched on in horror as migrants fell from the boat into the water, before scrambling back on.

Just moments before, they had rushed from the sand dunes in Wimereux and reached the water in dribs and drabs. A group of men carried the dinghy above their head, whilst another dragged an engine along the sand.

I can vividly remember a father carrying a young child, who was horizontal as she looked around in total bewilderment at the chaos unfolding around them. And a young girl chasing alongside the boat telling a camera crew to leave them alone.

Behind them, were other young children and women struggling to keep up. Others carried bin bags with their possessions towards the awaiting death-trap.

But as they reached the water, there was an eerie calmness and silence as youngsters were put into the middle of the boat as the men circled around the edge to find somewhere to grab.

After what seemed like an age, they lifted it into the water, even pausing to get a better grip.

Once afloat on the Channel, stragglers attempted to climb on whilst others tried to fire up the engine. Some fell off the dinghy, before clambering back on again.

It was at this point I realised that a mass tragedy in the Channel was inevitable.

Because this had all happened under the watchful eye of the French police. When the group of migrants made their dash for the water, a police vehicle lit up its lights and engaged the siren.

We had expected that to be the end of it.

Instead, the vehicle remained in the background, next to the sand dunes. It didn’t do anything to stop the crossing.

And the migrants, after several false starts, eventually managed to start the boat and creep towards Britain.

Around nine hours later, reports began emerging of bodies being found in the water.

By 9pm, the death toll had reached at least 27, with several more missing, feared dead.

I, for my small part, was terrified I’d watched dozens of people sail to their deaths. But pictures emerged from England of the little girl who had been carried to the boat by her father.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the French to allow Border Force to join operations on the beaches to prevent crossings, adding: “That’s something I hope will be acceptable now in view of what has happened.”

Over the following days, in the camp near Dunkirk, migrants were sharing the names, details and pictures of those who had died.

Many were visibly shaken, some heartbroken. The cowardly smugglers operating in the region had either slipped into the shadows or fled entirely.

And the following words will stay with me forever.

Sardar Dhani, from Logar province near the Afghan capital Kabul, said: “A couple of the people on the boat were my friends.

“They were so nice…so young. One of them had green eyes, he was such a beautiful boy.

“They stayed with us for a couple of days, then he said he was going to go to the other [smuggler]. I was crying for them.”

Asked if he would still try to reach Britain, Mr Dhani replied: “We have no choice. We go or we die.” Juma Gul Jabarkkhail, from Jalalabad, said: “Three of them, we knew them. They said there was a boat ready to go so we said ‘Good luck’. And we said goodbye.

“Of course we will still try and go to the UK. Of course we worry – we have seen refugees from Afghanistan, Kurdistan have died. What could I do here? The only option is to go to the UK. What can I do? Life in England is better.”

These men spoke to the Daily Express less than 24 hours after the disaster.

Reading the Cranston report, the apathy towards the chaos unfolding in the Channel is sickening.

Home Office sources have told me the then French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, began to change his tune on migrant crossings after looking at the bodies that had been recovered.

I don’t mean to be unnecessarily graphic.

But the details of how migrants die in the Channel show why inaction is so unforgivable.

As the boats begin to deflate and take on water, a section of the vessel will begin to fold in on itself.

Amid the terror and panic, some migrants scramble to the front of the sinking boat, causing the dinghy’s integrity to fail further.

And those trapped at the back are unable to escape, submerged under the water, as the boat continues to collapse on top of them.

This leads to the migrants suffocating.

Those in the middle are also trapped in the shipwreck.

So, I make no apology for being absolutely furious with the French for still allowing boats to leave their shores.

As documents released to the Cranston Inquiry reveal, Britain has proposed solution after solution – joint patrols, allowing British and French vessels to enter territorial waters, more comprehensive returns agreements.

Yet, four years on, the same rows are raging on. Boats are still leaving unchallenged.

And I included the words of the Afghans in the camp because I wanted to hammer home the fact that people won’t stop trying to cross the Channel.

Not even the deaths of friends or family members can stop many of them.

So, the French must finally accept responsibility for the crisis and stop every crossing.

And the British must do their bit by reducing the incentives to get here.

Make it near impossible to work illegally. Currently, it is laughably easy.

Make removal the default position. Currently, very, very few Channel migrants are ever deported.

Otherwise, I fear, we will see another major tragedy.