AMONG the first on the scene after the disaster was Medway Messenger photographer Jim Rantell, then working for the Kent Evening Post.

First reports were that the Herald of Free Enterprise had sunk at Dover.

But when he, reporter Ian Read and news editor John Hammond arrived at the Channel port, they realised they would have to board what seemed like a dangerously packed ferry to Boulogne and then drive up to Zeebrugge.

"It was so packed you couldn’t even sit down on the deck," said Jim. "Daylight was just breaking when we got to Zeebrugge. I managed to get aboard a tug and spent the day taking pictures.

"Then we went to where the dead were being taken. It was like a huge dance hall. Some people were sleeping on the floor. We talked to anyone we could find from Kent.

"When you are working, the depth of the tragedy doesn’t really strike you. It’s only when you get back, and particularly when the bodies start coming home, that it really hits you."