David Anthony Eden Sr. and David Anthony Eden Jr., a father and son from England, had allegedly arranged to pay a group of Chinese workers 5 per 25kg (9p per lb) of cockles. There is a common misconception that donations to the cockle-pickers' families will go into the pockets of the "snakehead" gangsters who smuggled the victims into Britain. "We are really poor. Ghosts (2006 film) - Wikipedia In 2006, Liverpool gangster Lin Liang Ren was convicted of the manslaughter of the 23 . Michael Guy, lifeboat operations manager was on duty that night. One solitary figure stands at the edge of the sea, the sole survivor . I thought I might just as well wait to die. In March 2006, Ren was jailed for 14 years at Preston Crown Court. He said: "I think a lot about those who didn't survive, particularly at Chinese New Year, because it happened around that time. "Some are polite. Twenty-three Chinese cockle pickers drowned in Lancashire's Morecambe Bay in February 2004. The cockle permit scheme, under which holders have to complete a safety course and learn about intertidal fishing, was introduced in December 2003, just eight weeks before the disaster. The court heard Freeman removed the money before police were able to catch up with him, and drove it to a house in Solihull where Bo Li's boyfriend, John Bowkett, 65, lived. Most are of her wedding. But the family is subsisting rather than living. Barbara Storey, chair of SOS Polonia, a Polish community organisation in Southampton, said: "Abuse in gang labour is still common in the industries where migrants find work." We must go on. I have a serious disease. "My family are all healthy and we are happy. When 23 Chinese cockle pickers died at Morecambe Bay in 2004, the gangmaster was caught and convicted, bodies were repatriated, the disaster tidied away. Mr Hua was speaking to the BBC under the protection of the government's UK Protected Persons Service. 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. In fact, these . The British government has paid to send the bodies home, but it is reluctant to do more for fear of encouraging other illegal immigrants. Mr Hua agreed to be interviewed and talk about the disaster almost 10 years on. "That was taken just days before he set off to Europe," she says, breaking into tears. Only 21 bodies were recovered. ", There is little I can say to comfort her. His father went overseas to earn enough for his tuition. Morecambe Bay cockling disaster - Wikipedia By The Newsroom. "I was on my own And then a helicopter came," he said. The creditors have taken over the dead couple's house, using it as a storeroom for their goods. But because the victims were all illegal migrants, their dependants have received no compensation, meagre charity, and endured such appalling harassment from debt collectors that several have been driven from their homes and at least one woman has killed herself. I don't know how we can go on. I can't afford to go to hospital for the surgery I need so I just sit at home waiting to die. Nick Broomfield, who made the 2006 film Ghosts about the tragedy, set up the Morecambe Victims Fund with the Guardian journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai last August aimed at raising 500,000 for the victims' families. Li Hua was the only worker to be rescued on the night of 5 February, 2004. The problem is the creditors. Languages. The victims' families - especially their children - are being punished, even though they broke no law themselves. Morecambe Bay cockle-picker tragedy: Sisters jailed again On the evening of 5 February 2004, at least 21 Chinese illegal immigrants were drowned by an incoming tide at Morecambe Bay in North West England, while harvesting cockles off the Lancashire coast. "Perhaps," she says with a shrug. But she is dragged into poverty by debt and dependants. Is climate change killing Australian wine? "They kept on and on at her. Market reforms have produced stunning economic growth and many new millionaires, but they have also eroded access to healthcare and education for the poor. She was always crying. Widow Lin Meiqin, who lives in China's Fujian province, has never remarried after her husband Lin YouXing died in the bay at the age of 38. The pair, who operated from houses in the West Midlands, had hidden 22,000 they . 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. "People tend to think that slavery is something to do with faraway countries with poor human rights records," he said. His mother, Shi Aizhu, took that call. Bo Li and Yan Li tried to spend the laundered money three weeks after being released from prison, The Li sisters were arrested after trying to spend 20 notes that had been taken out of circulation. Soon after he turned 19, he went to England. 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, 'My wife and six children joined Kenya starvation cult', On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. He may have been one of those who tried to call the emergency services; their panicked, mixed-up English pleas for help were replayed at the trial. After they have paid the rent and utilities, there is barely enough for food. They have done nothing wrong. The smuggled Fujianese headed directly to the sources of wealth, including Europe. In January 2005, just short of a year after her son's death, Shi decided to join him. So why are the authorities unable to prevent this kind of situation arising? She comes outside to see us off. And well beyond 2004 cockle pickers have had to be rescued. But 5,000 miles away in Fujian province, on the south-eastern coast of China, lives are still being sucked into the sands. Inside Out is broadcast on Monday 3 February at 19:30 GMT on BBC One North West and nationwide for seven days thereafter on the iPlayer. It wasn't the creditors this time. [3] The favoured area for cockle picking is close to the low tide line near the confluence of the Keer Channel and the Kent Channel, approximately 3.5 kilometres (2.2mi) north of Morecambe. "But we did not make any dent into these wider criminal gangs who traffic people around the world," he said. 'I heard them screaming as they drowned around me - The Sun He earned a lot in his first year and wrote to say that he was happy in Britain. [11], Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was found guilty of the manslaughter of at least 21 people (two further cocklers were thought to have been killed, but their bodies were never found). It is the complications that unsettle him. After he turns 18 next year, we won't be able to keep him in education." Gangmaster-controlled work is worth 1.34bn to the UK economy, but only 950 labour providers are licensed under the act. I wish you and my son health and safety. United Kingdom. The family is still in trouble. Each time one of the children catches a cold, the family must pay a few hundred yuan for medicine. Morecambe Bay cockling disaster's lasting impact - BBC News We have noticed that there is an issue with your subscription billing details. But returning to Fujian more than three years later, I find that familiar lament greeting me as I enter the home of Chen Yanchun, who has met me at the airport and sobbed for most of the 50-minute drive to see her family. They became trapped by rising tides and were swept out to sea. "Look at this house. 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". 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Morecambe Bay Disaster (Aftermath) - Hansard - UK Parliament Mr Gradwell claimed other similar disasters could still occur because people are willing to exploit the poorest in society for their own ends. The authorities in Beijing have washed their hands of the matter. Typically in such situations, they have each lent 5,000 to 10,000 yuan (330-660) to a family to pay the cash that the snakeheads demand as soon as the migrant has been smuggled to his or her destination. "Usually all we have to eat is noodles and rice. His first words are an apology. Bo and Yan Li were jailed in 2009 for a scam linked to the deaths of the cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004. Accidental Drownings of Migrant Labourers in Morecambe Bay, England "The scenario of migrant workers being promised a better life by working for a gangmaster on farms in the UK but then finding they're paid far less then they've been promised less than the minimum wage isn't uncommon." Money, though, is clearly the main driving force in a country where communist values have long since given way to a dog-eat-dog culture. On surrounding plots of land, meanwhile, neighbours are erecting huge new villas with the money sent back by family members overseas. Are UK Asian gangs secretly exploiting cockle pickers? It is not just economic hardship that drives them, he says, but also tradition and a spirit of adventure. Unable to read the warning signs on the beach, the victims were trapped while picking cockles by fast-moving tides on the notoriously treacherous sands. Read about our approach to external linking. Almost a decade after the disaster, Mr Hua said he still has panic attacks. But now she is furious at those who have left her alone with such a burden. Like most victims, Zhou's husband Cao Chaokun was not well educated. It was freezing cold but I didn't feel it. At least 21 Chinese cockle pickers drowned in treacherous weather conditions in Hest Bank, Lancashire, on the night of 5 February 2004. Read about our approach to external linking. He said: "The water covered the wheel and the vehicle couldn't move. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. The 21 men and two women were aged between 18 and 45 and were. What is inside is almost irrelevant. Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. "Sometimes I think if he hadn't died I would live a better life.". The families' huge debts are now owed to relatives, friends and neighbours. "But we did not make any dent into these wider criminal gangs who traffic people around the world," he said. But 5,000 miles away in Fujian province . 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. When the creditors come knocking - at least once a month for the past three years - he begs for more time. More than three years after 23 Chinese cockle pickers perished on the Lancashire sands, most people in the United Kingdom believe justice has been done. Chief executive Paul Broadbent said it was making progress to ensure "exploitation in all its forms was eradicated and people can work for a good honest wage and get paid that wage". That last conversation with her son crushed much of her will to live; the hounding by the creditors finished her off. In October 2011, 17 cockle pickers of eastern European origin were saved at the River Ribble estuary in Lancashire, 30 miles from the scene of the disaster. "Dad's only wish is that you study harder and harder and never act too proud. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. "I have no idea how we will get out of this situation," she says. But let something go wrong - an accident, illness or injustice - and the clock whirs back to the 19th century and a worse-than-Dickensian nightmare of instant ruin, hopeless poverty and chilling social indifference. 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. Li Hua knew very little about England before leaving his home village in China, beyond what hed read about and seen on television and yet he already made of it in his imagination something magnificent and welcoming. The authorities were so pleased with the outcome of Operation Lund (as the case was called) that investigators won last year's top criminal justice award. Inside Out talks to Li Hua, the only cockle picker to be rescued alive from the Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy 10 years ago, "But the water was flooding so quickly some were dragged right away under the water.". In fact, these migrant workers came to the UK to escape the poverty created by socialism in China and were working under a regime of stateregulated access to the cockle beds. But she feels a constant pressure. The remit of the GLA, Prof Craig said, should be extended to include industries including "construction, hospitality and leisure and social care". [8] A further two cocklers were believed to have been with those drowned, with remains of one being found in 2010. 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, 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. They have had to move. Was a May Day Attack by Pilgrims a Practice Run for a Massacre? Artist Isaac Julien: 'I didn't know if I'd live on until the 90s. A lot "We dealt with the people who were responsible for the deaths on the night. Su owes more than other families because she had to pay the snakeheads twice: once to get her husband to Germany and then, when he found no work there, to get him to Britain. On 5 February, Chinese cockle pickers were at work in the dark but facing the incoming tide. Cockle-pickers who used bare hands to scour Britain's shores in 1950s It was the only way they could pay for the treatment. "I was just numb..then, I don't know how, a wave maybe turned me round. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Now we are on our own. Five of them depend on Yu's father's factory salary of 750 yuan. Others are furious and threaten to beat me. 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. Only 21 bodies were recovered following the Morecambe Bay tragedy but police believe 23 people died. Yet many of the underlying causes, and especially the role of gangmasters, remain unresolved. They were working and they died. "The Chinese workers were caught up in it," said local fisherman Gary Cheetham. Congleton MP Ann Winterton stunned an audience at a dinner when . Rescue workers take away the body of one of the Chinese cockle pickers who died after they were trapped by the rising tide in Morecambe Bay in 2004 Tracy Brown, a Morecambe town councillor said . "I can barely pay the fees for his high-school education. . Lin Guohua is at the bottom of the heap. But he also rang home to Fujian. Misery appears to be what he is used to. Guo Binlong's brick-making business failed in China, so he went to Britain. comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment . 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.. I tell them I am not worth killing. "But my mother almost never stops crying. The Morecambe Bay cockle pickers tragedy: a survivor's story. All four were convicted of money laundering at Birmingham Crown Court on September 20. Mick Gradwell, the detective who led the investigation into the tragedy, said criminals were funnelling 1m per day to China by exploiting workers all around England.