07/07/2004

Cockle pickers among injured in road crash

At least 15 cockle pickers have been taken to hospital following a road crash in Liverpool today.

Two other people were injured in the crash which saw a minibus collide with a lorry on the Balliol Road in Bootle shortly before 5am.

Four of those injured, two of whom are in a serious condition, have been taken to the Royal Liverpool Hospital. The remaining 13 have been taken to Fazakerley Hospital.

Today's incident is the latest event to involve cockle pickers in the Merseyside are in the past six months.

In February at least 21 Chinese cockle pickers died after getting caught in tides at Morecambe Bay. Two months previously, a group of cockle pickers had to be rescued from the same area.

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04 May 2004
Body washed up on beach may be cockler
A badly decomposed body discovered on a beach in Morecambe Bay in Lancashire may be that of another drowned cockler. Police have not ruled out the possibility that the body washed up near Bolton-le-Sands may be that of another cockler drowned in February's tragedy when a party of Chinese cockle pickers were trapped on the sands by a rising tide.
09 July 2004
Two charged in connection with Morecombe Bay deaths
Two more people have been charged in relation to the Morecambe Bay tragedy that claimed the lives of 21 Chinese cocklers in February.
10 February 2004
Two bailed following deaths of cockle-pickers
Two people who were arrested following the deaths of 19 cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay last week have been released on police bail today. The pair voluntarily attended a police station yesterday afternoon. They are due to reappear at a police station on April 12.
09 February 2004
Five arrested following deaths of cockle pickers
Five people have been arrested by police investigating the deaths of 19 cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay last week. Nineteen people – 17 men and two women – drowned in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, after being trapped by rising tides while out picking cockles on Thursday evening.
06 February 2004
Cockle pickers drown in Morecambe Bay
At least eighteen people are feared to have drowned in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, after being trapped by rising tides while out picking cockles. Emergency services were called in at around 9.10pm last night after a member of the public spotted a number of people in difficulty in the Hest Bank area of the bay.