Morecambe Bay cockle pickers disaster: What happened?

It has been 20 years since 23 Chinese cockle pickers drowned when they were cut off by the tide at Morecambe Bay.

The workers, all aged between 18 and 45, had been ordered out to the tideline after being trafficked into the area by Liverpool gangmasters to work.

They spoke little English and had no local knowledge or relevant skills, and were working to send money back to their families in China.

Many were from a farming background, and had never even seen the sea until they went cockle picking.

Yet even after their deaths, the families had to continue paying thousands of pounds to the people who brought them into the country.

The tragedy led to new laws to protect trafficked workers, contributed to the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act, and encouraged stronger guidelines around those working in cockle picking.

But what happened on 5 February 2004?

What happened?

At around 4pm on 5 February 2004 around 30 workers set out to collect cockles from a stretch of Morecambe Bay at low tide. 

When they arrived, a group of local cockle pickers tried to warn them that the tide would soon be coming in.

Trevor Fleming explained how he tried to speak to one Chinese cockle picker.

He said: “The wind was picking up, and that was going to bring the tide in a lot quicker.

“We noticed Chinese workers walking onto the sand, and we just knew there was no way they could walk out and walk back in time.

“They didn’t understand a word I was saying. They just smiled at me… and walked off into the dark that night.”

The workers relied on their boss, Lin Liang Ren, to instruct them on when they would have to stop working, but those instructions never came.

Later that evening, a fast, sweeping tide cut off the pickers and left many of them stranded on sand-banks as the water began to rise.

According to survivors, the cocklers were never told what to do in an emergency or even asked if they could swim.

When the tides began to come in, the workers did not know how to get back to shore.

Nine workers were trapped in their pickup truck, which they used to traverse the mudflats, as the water rose.

All nine removed their waterproof clothing and swam for their lives, but only four made it back to the shore. The other five swam in a different direction and drowned.

Around 9:30pm one worker, Guo Bing Long, called 999, using his limited English to tell emergency services: "Sinking water, many many, sinking water... Sinking water, sinking water." 

Mr Long also managed to phone his family, telling them he was trapped.

Other workers called their bosses for help. Lin Liang Ren’s cousin, Lin Mu Yong, was on his way to the bay when he learnt what had happened.

It was his girlfriend, Janie Bannister from Liverpool, who called the emergency services at 9.17pm for help. Ten minutes later, she called again to say the water was still rising.

An extensive search and rescue operation was launched by the Coastguard, police, and ambulance services.

Morecambe's RNLI crew worked for 22 hours during the rescue operation.

A total of 21 bodies - between the ages of 18 and 45 - were recovered within hours, a woman’s skull washed up six years later, and one man has never been found.

15 more from the group managed to escape to safety.

Michael Guy, the lifeboat operations manager was on duty that night. He said his crew were confronted with a "sea of bodies." 

He added: "it was something no one had come across so in reality it's one of those things that generates memories and we have to live with them."

At 10:46pm that evening, Tony Eden Jr, a local businessman, called the coastguard to tell them he and his father had employed the cockle pickers.

A member of the RNLI recalls the moment he came across the bodies of the cockle pickers.

Who were the victims and where did they come from?

The workers were trafficked into England through containers into Liverpool. They were then hired out by agents of Chinese organised crime gangs - known as Triads.

They were all illegal immigrants, mainly from the Fujian province of China.

All had agreed to be brought to the UK in the belief they would be given the opportunity to work and send money back to their families, many of whom were living in poverty.

However, the crime gangs incurred heavy debts on the workers for trafficking them. Most of their earnings went towards paying off this debt.

While working for the crime gangs, they were also forced to pay for accommodation where up to 30 people would share a single toilet.

Of the 23 victims, two were women, with the rest mainly men in their 20s and 30s. Two were over 40, and one male was under 20.

Among the dead was a married couple; Liu Qin Ying and her husband Xu Yu Hua.

Most had been previously employed as farmers, and two were fishermen.

All the bodies were found between the cockling area and shore indicating most had attempted to swim but had been overcome by hypothermia.

A survivor of the tragedy, who was from Liverpool, is now living under an assumed name under the care of the Government’s witness protection service.

Have there been any prosecutions?

Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of manslaughter and facilitating illegal immigration.

His trial heard he would drive the workers to Morecambe from Liverpool and visit casinos while the men and women toiled through the night.

He was deported back to China in September 2012 after serving two years on remand and a further six years in prison.

Ren’s girlfriend, Zhao Xiao Qing, and his cousin, Lin Mu Yong, were also convicted of assisting the cocklers to breach immigration laws. 

Yong was sentenced to four years and nine months, while Qing to two years and nine months.

David Anthony Eden Sr. and David Anthony Eden Jr., from Prenton, Merseyside, who bought cockles from the work gang, were cleared of helping the workers break immigration law.

What happened following the disaster?

A year after the tragedy the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) was created.

It was designed to target rogue gangmasters and requires anyone supplying workers into the shellfish sector, and across agriculture, and horticulture to hold a licence with the GLA.

More than 16,000 licence applications were approved between 2005-2022.

A total of 77 unlicensed gangmasters have also been successfully prosecuted by the GLA across the UK between 2005 and 2022.

In 2017 the GLA became GLAA (Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority), with additional responsibilities to tackle labour exploitation across the economy, and to investigate modern slavery where it relates to labour abuse and other offences.

Commercial cocklers are now required to apply for a permit before they are allowed to work in Morecambe Bay.

The tragedy also contributed to the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015.

The law set out more effective punishment for traffickers and those forcing vulnerable people into illegal work, as well as bringing in provision for the protection of victims.

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