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BBC news: Family mourns lost cockler son
Louisa Lim, in China, meets the grieving family of one of the men who died picking cockles in Morecambe Bay.

BBC news: Cockler dangers 'known last year'
The Home Office was warned last year about illegal cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay but did not act, the BBC learns.

BBC news: Cockle picker's last call to wife
The family of a drowned cockler tells of his final call home, and demands compensation from the UK.

BBC news: Fishing pair 'deny manslaughter'
Two fishing bosses say they were not responsible for the deaths of 19 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay.

BBC news: Cockling survivors relate tragedy
Accounts of the disaster involving Chinese migrants collecting shellfish in the UK appear in China's press.

BBC news: Two bailed in cockle picker probe
Two men questioned by police about the deaths of 19 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay are bailed.

BBC news: Seven held in cockle inquiry
Seven people are being held by police following the deaths of 19 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay.

BBC news: Evidence removed in cockle raids
Detectives investigating the deaths of 19 cockle pickers say they have evidence that may lead to those responsible.

BBC news: Cockle deaths police make raids
Detectives investigating the deaths of 19 cockle pickers confirm the focus of their inquiry has moved to Merseyside.

BBC news: Cockle death arrests 'due in days'
Police investigating the deaths of 19 cockles pickers are expecting to make arrests as hopes fade for more survivors.

BBC news: Warning over cockle 'tragedy'
After the deaths of 19 cocklers, a Deeside cockle firm boss calls for regulations to prevent another tragedy.

BBC news: Deadly sands of Morecambe Bay
The death of 19 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay has added to the site's reputation for being a deadly area for the unwary.

BBC news: Cockle death arrests due in days
Police investigating the deaths of 19 cockles pickers in Morecambe Bay are expecting to make arrests within days.

BBC news: Tragic pickers haunt front pages
The front pages of Saturday's newspapers are dominated by the tragic death of 19 cockle pickers in Morecambe.

BBC news: Locals resent cockle gangs
Residents of Hest Bank react to the tragic deaths of 19 cocklers in Morecambe Bay.

BBC news: Tide kills 18 cockle pickers
Eighteen cocklers die and 14 escape after being trapped by rising tides in Morecambe Bay.

BBC news: Cockle deaths spark gang fears
Lancashire police probe the drowning of 19 cockle pickers amid fears they were working for a criminal gang.

BBC news: Norfolk check on dead cocklers
Police investigate whether the 19 cockle pickers who died at Morecambe were part of King's Lynn's Chinese community.

Guardian Unlimited: Cockle-picker warnings ignored, says Labour MP
Patrick Wintour and David Ward
February 12 2004

A Home Office minister was facing accusations last night that she failed to act on warnings from a Labour MP about the dangers posed by illegal cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay.

Guardian Unlimited: Why is Morecambe Bay so dangerous?
David Ward
February 12 2004

Going fishing using a horse and cart or tractor and trailer may seem to be an odd idea," says a passage in a booklet celebrating the unique qualities of Morecambe Bay. "But it's the best way to get to and from the shellfish grounds and shrimping channels...

Guardian Unlimited: Yesterday in parliament
Press Association
February 11 2004

Cockle-pickers tragedy
The deaths of 19 cockle-pickers at the weekend could lead to a racist backlash against the Chinese community, Lord Chan, chairman of the Chinese in Britain Forum, warned. He urged the government to "take steps to prevent ...

Guardian Unlimited: Morecambe cockle pickers return to work
David Ward, and Jonathan Watts in Beijing
February 11 2004

The cockle pickers returned to Morecambe Bay yesterday as police reopened the fishing grounds five days after 19 Chinese workers drowned when they were caught by the night tide.

Guardian Unlimited: The real reason why we should fear immigration
Polly Toynbee
February 11 2004

The war of the worlds gets fiercer. Yesterday the French banned Islamic schoolgirls from wearing headscarves in a provocative assertion of Frenchness against the perceived threat of alien beliefs. The Belgians are considering following suit.

Guardian Unlimited: Yesterday in parliament
Press Association
February 10 2004

Cockle tragedy
The government refused to rule out a statutory licensing scheme for gangmasters after the deaths of 19 Chinese cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay. Rural affairs minister Alun Michael said ministers fully supported the "objectives be...
Guardian Unlimited: Real cost of cheap labour

February 10 2004

Certainly the government needs to take action to stop this appalling exploitation (Cockler deaths, February 9). Giving these workers the right to work in this country for, say, five years, if they provide information leading to the prosecution of gangmast...

Guardian Unlimited: Muddle over bill to crack down on gangmasters
Sarah Hall and David Ward
February 10 2004

The government will support a private member's bill designed to crack down on unscrupulous gangmasters, such as those who exploited the Morecambe Bay cockle workers, the home secretary, David Blunkett, said yesterday.

Guardian Unlimited: Bleak thoughts on a very British disaster
Simon Hoggart
February 10 2004

The house discussed the Morecambe Bay tragedy. It was a cold day, and there were few people on the benches. It did not take much imagination to be on those vast flat sands as they sucked at your feet, freezing rain swirling round you, the roar of the wi...

Guardian Unlimited: Government to consider licensing gangmasters
Matthew Tempest and agencies
February 09 2004

The government is considering backing a bill to license gangmasters in the wake of the deaths of 19 Chinese cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay last week.

Guardian Unlimited: Police arrest five over cockling deaths
Press Association
February 09 2004

Police investigating the deaths of 19 cocklers in Morecambe Bay have arrested five people on suspicion of manslaughter.

Guardian Unlimited: This is 21st-century slavery

February 09 2004

Sunday Times
Editorial, February 8 ...

Guardian Unlimited: Our window into the lower depths

February 09 2004

Thank you for the fine leader on the Morecambe Bay tragedy (February 7). I was about to write you a letter linking these instances (Yorks, Worcs and Morecambe) when I opened your paper and saw "Death on the sands". We look through the terrible window and...
Guardian Unlimited: Our window into the lower depths

February 09 2004

Guardian Unlimited: Gangmasters may escape with light jail sentences
Martin Wainwright
February 09 2004

The gangmasters who sent 19 cockle pickers to their deaths are unlikely to serve more than minor jail terms, amid confusion about the laws under which they could be prosecuted.

Guardian Unlimited: Our life is bloody hard here
Jonathan Watts in Baihu village, Fujian Province
February 09 2004

Grief is nothing new to the parents of Baihu village, whose children risk everything to work illegally in Britain and other wealthy parts of the world so that they can fend for their impoverished families in China.

Guardian Unlimited: I'm illegal, so what can I do?
Hsiao-hung Pai
February 09 2004

Ms Li, from Tienjin in northern China, knows how lucky she is. Last November she spent several weeks picking cockles in Morecambe Bay. Unlike the 19 people who drowned there last week she quit before she paid the consequences.

Guardian Unlimited: Wanted: workers who are flexible, cheap, expendable
Felicity Lawrence
February 09 2004

It has taken 19 bodies on a Morecambe beach to bring the scandal of modern working conditions to public attention. While police vow to bring to justice the ruthless gangmasters who sent migrants out against such treacherous tides, we reel in shock at thi...

Guardian Unlimited: Horns of the liberal dilemma
David Goodhart
February 08 2004

Just as anxieties about asylum-seekers seem to be fading, along come two events to stir up our acute sensitivity about migration into Britain. The first is the tragedy of the 19 Chinese who died while cockling in Morecambe Bay, providing a glimpse of the...

Guardian Unlimited: Little-minded Englanders
Mary Riddell
February 08 2004

As if it had not done enough apologising, the BBC has issued another mea culpa. Stars of the Beechgrove Potting Shed, a Radio Scotland phone-in gardening programme, had to say sorry after advising listeners how to propagate Amsterdam's favourite strain o...

Guardian Unlimited: Evil gangmasters who rule the cockle slave trade by fear
Anuskha Asthana and Tony Thompson
February 08 2004

Five millionaire gangsters have been identified as key figures in the illegal cockling industry that led to the deaths last week of 19 migrant workers in the dangerous waters of Morecambe Bay in Lancashire.

Guardian Unlimited: Death on the sands
Leader
February 07 2004

The sands of Morecambe Bay which shockingly took 19 more lives yesterday, are notoriously treacherous, but at least their deadly nature is widely known. The same cannot be said for the sinuous, hidden paths which draw underpaid foreign workers into such ...

Guardian Unlimited: Victims of the sands and the snakeheads
Felicity Lawrence, Hsiao-Hung Pai, Vikram Dodd, Helen Carter, David Ward and Jonathan Watts in Fujian province, south eastern China
February 07 2004

Police investigating the deaths of 19 Chinese workers who drowned when they were trapped by a rampaging night tide while picking cockles in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, were last night hunting the gangmasters behind the tragedy.

Guardian Unlimited: 'Safe' islands prove lethal for unwary
Martin Wainwright
February 07 2004

"There's only two people you can put your faith in when crossing these sands: God and the sand pilot," says Cedric Robinson of Morecambe Bay's sinking sands.

Guardian Unlimited: Trapped by the tide and sinking sands in night of growing horror
David Ward
February 07 2004

The first indication of trouble came at 9.30pm on Thursday when someone dialled 999 and told police that between 23 and 25 people were stranded on the sands. The Lancashire helicopter and two helicopters from RAF Valley in north Wales were scrambled.

Guardian Unlimited: The underbelly of globalisation
Tony Woodley
February 07 2004

Morecambe Bay's famously ferocious tide may be a force of nature, but human beings bear the responsibility for yesterday's deaths of 19 Chinese workers picking cockles. "Drowning" will be the word on their death certificate, but it is cowboy capitalism t...

Guardian Unlimited: Calls to protect migrant workers after cocklers drown
George Wright and agencies
February 06 2004

The death of 19 cocklers in Morecambe Bay has sparked calls for government action to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers.

Guardian Unlimited: Tides kill 19 cockle pickers
Mark Oliver and agencies
February 06 2004

At least 19 people died when they were trapped by rising tides as they picked cockles on the notoriously dangerous mudflats at Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, last night.

Guardian Unlimited: Exploitation is the norm
Felicity Lawrence
February 06 2004

The tragic deaths of at least 18 Chinese labourers in Morecambe Bay was an accident waiting to happen. The full details of their case have yet to emerge, but that appalling risks were being taken with migrants' lives will come as no surprise to officials...

Guardian Unlimited: Cockle pickers missing after tide cuts them off
Jenny Booth
February 06 2004

As many as 20 people were missing last night, feared drowned, after a group of cockle pickers were cut off by the tide a mile and a half from shore in Morecambe Bay.

Home Office failed to act over Chinese pickers
Independent News : UK, 12 February 2004
Home Office officials were alerted eight months ago to the issue of Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay.

Cockle pickers back at work, but Chinese stay away from sands of death
Independent News : UK, 11 February 2004
There was no mistaking who was missing in the pre-dawn darkness yesterday, as the cocklers of Morecambe Bay progressed across the sands by the light of tractor headlamps to resume their trade for the first time since last week's 19 drownings.

Labour trafficking, Iraq's 'moral' war and others
Independent Argument, 11 February 2004
After Morecambe Bay, we must act against labour trafficking

Blunkett backs new crackdown on gangmasters after bay disaster
Independent News : UK, 10 February 2004
Tough new laws to drive unscrupulous "gangmasters" out of business were promised by the Government yesterday in the wake of the Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy.

Police raids reveal squalid conditions of cockle pickers
Independent News : UK, 09 February 2004
Detectives investigating the deaths of 19 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay said yesterday that many had been living in "appalling" conditions.

Five held in cockle-picker deaths probe
Independent News : UK, 09 February 2004
Five people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of 19 Chinese cocklers in Morecambe Bay, police said today.

Global trade can help to defeat the exploitation of the world's poor
Independent Argument, 09 February 2004
Most of the time, we are only dimly aware that our prosperity and good fortune rests, at least in part, on the exploitation of others far away.

The deadly silence of Britain's Chinese minority
Independent Argument : Regular Columnists, 09 February 2004
When events erupt such as this one, the community feels blamed and criminalised, and hides away even more

Dead cocklers 'were being paid £1 a day'
Independent News : UK, 08 February 2004
The gang of 19 cockle pickers, believed to be mostly Chinese immigrants, who drowned in Morecambe Bay were being paid just £1 for nine hours work a day, Lancashire police said yesterday.

'They fill a void in the labour market, but have no rights'
Independent News : UK, 07 February 2004
Every day thousands of migrant labourers work in appalling conditions, an invisible mass until a tragedy highlights their plight.

Gangmasters blamed as 19 Chinese cocklers drown in Morecambe Bay
Independent News : UK, 07 February 2004
Gangmasters may be responsible for the deaths of 19 Chinese immigrants, including two women, who were engulfed by Morecambe Bay's notorious tides as they engaged in a perilous nocturnal search for cockles.

18 cocklers die trapped by rising tide
Independent News : UK, 06 February 2004
Nineteen people died when a group of cockle pickers became trapped by the rising tide, police said today.

MP's warning on cocklers ignored by Home Office
Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent

DATE: 12 Feb 2004

We were not cockle bosses, say dealers
Nigel Bunyan

The Telegraph:
MP's warning on cocklers ignored by Home Office
Andrew Sparrow, Political Correspondent

DATE: 12 Feb 2004

The Telegraph:
We were not cockle bosses, say dealers
Nigel Bunyan

DATE: 12 Feb 2004

The Telegraph:
Subdued workers return to the cockle bay
Nigel Bunyan

DATE: 11 Feb 2004

The Telegraph:
Father and son bailed in deaths inquiry
Nigel Bunyan

DATE: 11 Feb 2004

The Telegraph:
I am up to my chest in water. Tell my family to pray for me . . . I am dying
Richard Spencer