Britain: Nineteen shellfish gatherers died on Thursday night after being caught by a fast-rising tide on an English beach, prompting charges of exploited migrant labour.
The local member of parliament said the deaths in Morecambe Bay in Lancashire, northwest England, were a tragedy waiting to happen.
"Those people that lost their lives last night were not just victims to Morecambe Bay, they were victims of exploitation," Ms Geraldine Smith said.
"They were working probably for very very little money, working in very dangerous and difficult conditions." The group of around 34 cockle gatherers were cut off from the shore late on Thursday. Police said 16 people had been rescued and were being cared for.
A spokeswoman added two were European, nine were registered asylum seekers from China, one was a student and four others, also believed to be Chinese, had now applied for asylum.
Of the 19 confirmed dead, police said 16 were male and two female. Details on the nineteenth victim, found later yesterday, were still to be released.
Lancashire Police Chief Constable Paul Stephenson said it had been difficult to establish the identities of those rescued as they were fearful of the authorities.
"They may be illegal immigrants," he told Sky news. "There is also a language problem." It is not illegal to pick cockles but residents complain numerous gangs of suspected illegal immigrants are brought in to Morecambe to work as cheap labour on the lucrative trade.
Following a crackdown last year, 37 Chinese people were arrested. Local media said 18 were to be deported for failed asylum bids.
Home Office minister Ms Beverley Hughes said she suspected people-trafficking was behind the tragedy.
"It demonstrates yet again what can happen to people when the highly organised elements that are behind the trafficking - and here with mostly Chinese people we are talking about the ruthless gangs, the "snakeheads" - operate globally and transport people for labour exploitation," she told BBC Radio.
The flat bay at Morecambe is notoriously dangerous, with fast-rising tides and quicksand.
Lancashire Assistant Chief Constable Julia Hodson told a news conference that police had contacted the Chinese embassy and were investigating who, if anyone, employed the workers to gather the cockles.
Police coordinating yesterday's rescue said military helicopters and the coastguard began searching for the group when the alarm was raised after dark on Thursday.
Locals often go out onto the beach to harvest cockles, which live just below the surface of muddy sand and are eaten after being shelled and cooked, but large gangs of workers have been attracted to the area in recent months.
"Morecambe Bay is a public fisheries so just about anybody can go down on the beach and gather cockles," Ms Smith said.
"We estimate that there were £6-£8 million (€11.6 million)worth of cockles just lying in the middle of Morecambe Bay and that of course attracts hundreds of people." Britain stepped up the fight against illegal immigrants after 58 Chinese would-be immigrants died of suffocation in June 2000 in a lorry in which they were being smuggled into Britain. - (Reuters)