21 cockle pickers drown in tide

Twenty-one people are feared dead after being swept out to sea when a cockle-picking trip went disastrously wrong.

Rescue workers have recovered 18 bodies - including two women - from Morecambe Bay. Another body has been located and two are still missing.

The rescue operation, involving volunteer offshore teams and air and sea rescue helicopters, is being hampered by the rising tide. Sixteen survivors - thought to be Chinese who speak little English - have been taken to a nearby rest centre where they will be questioned by police interpreters.

It is believed the group had no safety equipment when they set out in the dark last night. They got stuck in mud and were caught by the incoming tide, trapped with water up to their necks.

Today police said they would consider bringing criminal charges against anyone who may have employed them. Assistant Chief Constable Julia Hodson of Lancashire Police said the identities of the group were unknown but they were of oriental appearance. "We are appealing for any witnesses to help us unravel exactly what has led to this tragic case," she said.

John Beaty, operations officer at Morecambe lifeboat station, said: "The tide can come in faster than a man can run, and then you have the quicksands and mud. It is a very, very dangerous place if you do not know what you are doing." The cocklepickers were reported missing on the mudflats around Hest Bank at 9.14 last night.

The alarm was raised by a member of the Morecambe lifeboat crew who had been at a gym and noticed cars and people on the beach. Two helicopters from RAF Valley on Anglesey and Leconfield in North Yorkshire were scrambled.

The disaster raises questions about the use of immigrant labour and exploitation of desperate foreign workers by unscrupulous gangmasters.

Morecambe Bay is a notoriously dangerous spot but at this time of year hypothermia is as great a threat as drowning to those who may still be in the sea.