The owners of the Solong

"I instantly realised that all Russians don't eat their children."This one simple picture I believed more than the propaganda."

On leaving Sandhurst he headed for London."I kind of learnt photography by sitting in the coffee bars and shooting a bit," he said.It was in a coffee bar that he met the politician Michael Foot, who at that time was working as a journalist.

Foot told him about the unfoldingand suggested he go there and take pictures - and that is exactly what he did.

He got into Budapest in an ambulance after contacting the Red Cross.

He met journalists from Life magazine whose photographer had been unable to get into the city so he was asked to work for them.Nurdles are balls of plastic resin used in plastics production. They are not toxic but can present a risk to wildlife if ingested, according to HM Coastguard.

One crew member of the Solong is missing and presumed dead. The captain of the cargo vessel has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter.Mr O'Callaghan said aerial surveillance had confirmed the presence of the nurdles in the water and some on the shore between Old Hunstanton and Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk.

Retrieval had started, with specialist counter-pollution teams sent to help, he added.Calum Duncan, head of policy and advocacy at the Marine Conservation Society, said: "We're deeply concerned about nurdles washing up along the Wash, a vital internationally important protected area for birds like waders, wildfowl, gulls and terns."