"It won't be easy," says David Tang, the London lawyer who represents the victims. The deaths 10 years ago of 23 Chinese cockle pickers who were searching for a "better life" has had a lasting effect on all those associated with the Morecambe Bay disaster. I can't sleep with worry." BBC NEWS | UK | England | Lancashire | Cockle pickers died from drowning In the Channel 4 documentary Benefits Street, viewers saw a group of Romanian workers who were owed wages by their gangmaster, who also held their passports. ", Dependants Wife Chen Jinyun and sons Lin Luan, 19, and Lin Huan, 18 Debt More than 100,000 yuan (6,625) Monthly income 600 yuan (40), Chen Jinyun is on the run. Lin Guohua is at the bottom of the heap. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. Twenty-one bodies were recovered within hours, a woman's skull was washed up six years on and one man has never been found. On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. Then she went upstairs and swallowed a bottle of rat poison. "It is not fair for the children. That anger grew as it became clear how desperate the victims' lives had been. 'I heard them screaming as they drowned around me - The Sun Often mistaken as a commemorative statue, this sculpture has become a memorial of sorts, honoring the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers who died in Morecambe Bay working for criminal . Five of them depend on Yu's father's factory salary of 750 yuan. The media go wild, she says, about the inflow of migrants, but what they should be talking about is migrants' rights. Li Hua was trafficked by 'snakeheads' from China via Moscow to the UK. It wasn't the creditors this time. The emergency services were alerted by a mobile phone call made by one of the workers, who spoke little English and was only able to say "sinking water" before the call was cut off. After they have paid the rent and utilities, there is barely enough for food. 96 minutes. "It was pitch black and I was desperate," he said. His first words are an apology. "It is hard work, but I barely earn enough to put food in our mouths," she says. it says. Jeremy Clarkson slammed for joke about death of 23 Chinese cockle-pickers "But we did not make any dent into these wider criminal gangs who traffic people around the world," he said. VideoOn board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry, I didnt think make-up was made for black girls, Why there is serious money in kitchen fumes. The Praying Shell - Bolton-le-Sands, England - Atlas Obscura In fact, the snakeheads were paid off long before the accidents. I know it would influence them in a bad way. I was just lucky.". Although they don't say anything, I know they worry every day about debt. ", The scars of Morecambe's cockling disaster, North Western Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority, AI chatbots 'may soon be more intelligent than us', Russia troop deaths hit 20,000 in five months - US, Palestinian hunger striker dies in Israel prison, The 17 most eye-catching looks at the Met Gala, 'My wife and six children joined Kenya starvation cult', On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. Morecambe Bay cockling disaster's lasting impact - BBC News But I got caught trying to enter Japan," he recalls. The Chinese gangmaster who organised the trip and two associates of his were found guilty of manslaughter, breaking of immigration laws and other crimes, and were sentenced to several years in prison. (PDF) The Morecambe bay cockle pickers: market failure or government Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. If we're to learn the lessons of the Morecambe Bay tragedy, we need to invest in improving conditions. In this boring Europe, I miss you and mother and our relatives very much. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The boy is lying on the bed, still flicking through a comic book. The organisation was set up to protect vulnerable workers in the shell fish, agriculture, food and food packaging labour markets but MPs and academics are campaigning for it to be given more powers. Two of the victims were women; the rest were mostly young men in their 20s and 30s, with only two being over 40 and only one, a male, under 20. And on his first day . On 5 February, Chinese cockle pickers were at work in the dark but facing the incoming tide. BBC NEWS | England | Lancashire | Deadly sands of Morecambe Bay Her husband's death meant instant ruin. They used houses and shops in Shirley in Solihull, and Dudley to run their operation, it said. During the subsequent investigation and trial, it emerged that the labourers were inexperienced, spoke little or no English and were unfamiliar with the area. Yet, 10 years on, campaigners say workers are still . As the GLA admits, the fines for exploitative employers have been too low to be a deterrent: if an employer makes an annual profit of 100,000 and pays a fine of 500 for breaking GLA rules, he may well carry on regardless. He does everything he is told without complaint or enthusiasm. Alan Sledmore, who guides people across the bay, said "The area is very . All the victims were the main breadwinners for their families. But he gets up without grumbling and poses patiently next to his mother. Select from premium Cockle Pickers Work At Morecambe Bay of the highest quality. 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'Risk to life just as real' as Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy The cockles to be collected are best found at low tide on sand flats at Warton Sands, near Hest Bank. Lancashire | Cockle tragedy memorial unveiled - BBC News "I work on a construction site from time to time, mixing concrete," she says, her dialect so heavy that even the interpreter has difficulty understanding; her words need to be translated into standard Mandarin before they can be retranslated into English for me. THE death of the cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay has added to its reputation for being a deadly area for the unwary. ", Among all the people I meet in Fujian, Lin has come the furthest to talk but appears to have the lowest expectations. Now the creditors never stop bothering us." "I don't know how I will be able to pay for him if he succeeds. The events of that night left indelible memories for everyone involved - from the sole Chinese survivor and witness - to the lifeboat crew who found themselves confronted by a "sea of bodies". They need to be repaid. They have done nothing wrong. And there had been fierce cockle wars between local gangmasters from Scotland and Wales since eight years before It was just chaos and it became very difficult to work in thetrade.". Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Video, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry, Met Gala 2023: Stars celebrate Karl Lagerfeld, Shooting suspect was deported four times - US media, Yellen warns US could run out of cash in a month, The 17 most eye-catching looks at the Met Gala, King Charles to wear golden robes for Coronation, HSBC says 1 bank buyout boosted profit by $1.5bn, More than 100 police hurt in French May Day protests. "Someone told them that we had received compensation from the UK, but it is not true. Where things are going right, the success stories - of giddy growth, sudden wealth and market domination - entirely justify the country's image as the nascent superpower of the 21st century. "Some are polite. She comes outside to see us off. Thanks to satellites and modern communications, the bad luck bounced across the globe almost instantly. An industry source has informed me of numerous cases of gangmaster abuse over the past decade, from the hospitality industry to food processing and agriculture, saying that little has been done to change the situation. Their uncle was too shocked by the size of the burden suddenly thrust upon him to grieve at the loss of his sister. His evidence helped convict Lin Liang Ren of 21 counts of manslaughter, facilitating illegal immigration and perverting the course of justice. We were not warned about the tides, never once, Albanians caught in cannabis farm raid acquitted as trafficking victims, Snakehead gangs fuel organised crime in UK. Mr Guy said: "At that stage they effectively came into a sea of bodies. Now he had inherited two more and a debt of 150,000 yuan (9,940). Dependants Son Cai Zhixiang, 16, daughter Cai Huiling, 13 Debt 150,000 yuan (9,940) Monthly income 2,000 yuan (132). But they drive her to distraction. The report also called for the scope of the GLA to be widened. Almost a decade after the disaster, Mr Hua said he still has panic attacks. And with that, he slips back into the background. Is climate change killing Australian wine? Please, Main image: Morecambe Bay. "We have no family home, no land. "We cannot afford gas so I have to go up to the hill to get wood," she sobs. Our close friends and relatives understand that we cannot pay, but the others gossip about me.". [6] Most of the victims were previously employed as farmers, and two were fishermen. She was always crying. Padgett said this about the sculpture, Its symbolism is intended to parallel humanitys openness to a larger dimension and the way cockle shells open as the tide comes in.. In sharp contrast, the dead man's mother is almost silent. He said the team on the hovercraft covering Arnside in Cumbria began their "normal search patterns" when they made the grim discovery of the bodies. The interview over, I ask if I can take some pictures of the mother, grandmother and son. She makes 500 yuan (33) a month doing piecework - hammering the soles of shoes into place on her kitchen table. Slavery 'worse' 10 years after Morecambe Bay tragedy - BBC News comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment . Mr Hua was speaking to the BBC under the protection of the government's UK Protected Persons Service. His mother, Shi Aizhu, took that call. The contrast is visually disturbing, a reminder that China is crushing several centuries of development into a few decades. But it is still not rich enough to keep people from leaving. Her brother and his wife were the only couple to die on the Lancashire sands, leaving their son an orphan. [3] Fourteen other members of the group are reported to have made it safely to the shore, making 15 survivors in total. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Chen says that is impossible now. The Praying Shell artwork, carved in limestone, sits above the site where 23 Chinese cockle pickers working for. The horrors imprinted on my mind, says Li Hua. He knows the creditors will never stop coming after him. We left our families to make a better life. Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? "If someone goes abroad, everybody in the neighbourhood lends them money because they believe they will be repaid in three or four years," Chen says. In 2006, the average rural income in the province was 4,450 yuan (270 pounds) a year, one-third higher than the Chinese norm - but little more than 1% of most British salaries. ", At the bottom, he tags on a brief message to their two sons. On 5 February, Chinese cockle pickers were at work in the dark but facing the incoming tide. These workers had no knowledge of the sea and hadn't been given any safety equipment or guidance by their gangmaster. In any case, she says, her son no longer wants to go to school. The Morecambe Bay cockle pickers tragedy: a survivor's story. Everyone was panicking, they got out of the vehicle and tried to swim. "She has lost her mind. The former detective superintendent, who is now retired, said: "The main reason 23 people died in Morecambe Bay on this particular night was because of poverty in the Fujian province of China. You must go around the back of Red Bank Farm and it is a sharp left up on the on the banking, looking over the Bay.