Dependants Wife Su Zhenqin and two daughters aged 10 and 14 Debt 300,000 yuan (19,900) Monthly income 300 yuan (20). All I can think of is the Chinese cockle-pickers, poor sods. At a confiscation hearing in 2011, Bo, 46, and Yan, 43, were ordered to pay back about 1m which they had made. The families' huge debts are now owed to relatives, friends and neighbours. Their father had died in an accident several years earlier, leaving the family deep in debt. A NORTH West Tory MP remained defiant today over an offensive joke about the Chinese cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay. Bags of cockles on Morecambe beach as the search mission goes on. 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. My uncle, auntie and grandfather help me. Rescue teams continue their search over Morecambe bay, where many cockle pickers are feared dead after they were trapped by the rising tide in. I have a serious disease. Each time one of the children catches a cold, the family must pay a few hundred yuan for medicine. This barely covers half the interest payments. ", She shows me a letter she received from her husband before he died. Five of them depend on Yu's father's factory salary of 750 yuan. Sinking water, sinking water.". Aerial shots of large-scale calligraphy counterpoint to the thermal imaging footage from the rescue services to Morecambe Bay. When the creditors come knocking - at least once a month for the past three years - he begs for more time. "Building up hidden communities and building a life below official recognition.". Languages. "I dare not tell my sons about our debts. "It won't be easy," says David Tang, the London lawyer who represents the victims. [8] A further two cocklers were believed to have been with those drowned, with remains of one being found in 2010. "I was just numb..then, I don't know how, a wave maybe turned me round. Mr Hua said: "I could not believe I was being rescued and I was alive again.". The children looked lost, disbelieving. But now she is furious at those who have left her alone with such a burden. At least 21 Chinese cockle pickers drowned in treacherous weather conditions in Hest Bank, Lancashire, on the night of 5 February 2004. That afternoon, she ate with her grandson during his lunch break. He went to Europe to make up for that: if he had succeeded, everyone would have benefited. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (David Morris) on securing this timely debate. "That was taken just days before he set off to Europe," she says, breaking into tears. "We all came for the same reason. Healthcare, which is more market-driven than in most capitalist countries, is a heavy burden. 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. Europe is a devilish prison. "Well, actually, slavery is here and now in the UK and the research which I've done with colleagues suggests there may be upwards of 10,000 people at any one time in the UK in conditions which we would class as modern slavery.". The authorities in Beijing have washed their hands of the matter. Xu Liying knows just how hard life can be without any support from society, the state or charity. His father went overseas to earn enough for his tuition. "Tens of thousands of illegal Chinese workers were living in the country," he said. Xu says her brother went overseas after his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Everyone was panicking, they got out of the vehicle and tried to swim. "I've seen them crying when the local gang set fire to their cockles It was terrible. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. "The situation is getting worse. "The Chinese workers were caught up in it," said local fisherman Gary Cheetham. Her brother and his wife were the only couple to die on the Lancashire sands, leaving their son an orphan. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. Now he had inherited two more and a debt of 150,000 yuan (9,940). The smuggled Fujianese headed directly to the sources of wealth, including Europe. The men put the cash in a plastic container and buried it in the back garden, where it was later discovered by officers. Michael Guy, lifeboat operations manager was on duty that night. The Morecambe Bay cockle pickers tragedy: a survivor's story. Bo and Yan Li were jailed in 2009 for a scam linked to the deaths of the cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004. Dependant Son Xu Bin, 17 Debt More than 200,000 yuan (13,250) Monthly income 1,200 yuan (80). 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. Morecambe Bay. He would be reunited with his wife as soon as hed found somewhere of his own to live, he was told. And Lena Chen - a Chinese woman living in Britain - sends a small amount of money before each spring festival. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. All rights reserved. "The tragic deaths of twenty-three young Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay on the Lancashire coast have been attributed to the machinations of global capitalism. [5][2] An extensive search and rescue operation was launched. Registered in England No. 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. The GLA has had some success in dismantling crime rings in Cambridgeshire, Derby and Norfolk, yet the scale of the problem seems beyond its reach. All rights reserved. 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 . "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. ", Dependants Wife Zhou Xiaomei and son Cao Xianyong 13, daughter Cao Meiyun 16 Debt 200,000 yuan (13,250) Monthly income 250 yuan (17). Mr Hua said: "It was pitch black and I was desperate. ", There has been a little charity for her and several other families, from the Fuqing Overseas Workers organisation. The headlines from China were full of disbelief. "They put me in prison for a year. ", There is little I can say to comfort her. "They lent us money because they sympathised with our poverty. 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. She supports a daughter with learning disabilities, an unemployed husband, an elderly father, a sister who became mentally ill after being raped, and, since February 5 2004, a nephew. The Chinese workers were unfamiliar with local geography, language, and custom. Work on Morecambe's cockle beds has ceased, and at the time action was promised to prevent such a tragedy happening again. [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. 2023 BBC. I guess he is also the poorest and least educated. It is not just economic hardship that drives them, he says, but also tradition and a spirit of adventure. . In sharp contrast, the dead man's mother is almost silent. Some 30 cockle pickers set out at 4 pm. Thanks to satellites and modern communications, the bad luck bounced across the globe almost instantly. Cheetham says the Gangmasters Licensing Act, passed in 2004 after the tragedy, hasn't changed things much. The horrors imprinted on my mind, says Li Hua. The cockles to be collected are best found at low tide on sand flats at Warton Sands, near Hest Bank. If the creditors saw you they would assume you gave me money and demand I repay them. Two sisters who laundered money linked to a human trafficking operation which caused the deaths of 23 cockle pickers have been jailed for a second time. The Praying Shell artwork, carved in limestone, sits above the site where 23 Chinese cockle pickers working for. We left our families to make a better life. [18], The 2007 folk song "On Morecambe Bay" by folk artist Kevin Littlewood tells the story of the events. He said: "I think a lot about those who didn't survive, particularly at Chinese New Year, because it happened around that time. Tracy Brown, a Morecambe town councillor, told the Daily Telegraph that the remarks were "beneath . "I worry about their future," says the uncle. But he gets up without grumbling and poses patiently next to his mother. But it is near the creditors so they used to come knocking all the time. But 5,000 miles away in Fujian province . "My family are all healthy and we are happy. They became trapped by rising tides and were swept out to sea. Mr Hua was speaking to the BBC under the protection of the government's UK Protected Persons Service. The siblings have been separated. Chen says she has sold her wedding jewellery and persuaded the creditors to stop charging 10% interest. All but two of the bodies have been found, identified and repatriated. Dependants Wife Chen Yanchun, son Song Xinyao, 17, and the family's two grandmothers Debt 240,000 yuan (15,900) Monthly income 500 yuan (33). In fact, the snakeheads were paid off long before the accidents. I just can't. Select from premium Cockle Pickers Work At Morecambe Bay of the highest quality. (modern), The dangers of Morecambe Bay, where 23 Chinese cocklers lost their lives in 2004, include fast-rising tides and quicksands. During the subsequent investigation and trial, it emerged that the labourers were inexperienced, spoke little or no English and were unfamiliar with the area. She is wearing a white dress and her husband Wu Hongkang is in a western suit. "I can barely pay the fees for his high-school education. I could earn 500 yuan in a month," he says. "There's the same number of unlicensed gangmasters as there is licensed, in the food-processing industry, for instance. Gone_Gary_T Jazz Record Requests Additional comment actions. Professor Gary Craig, who led the study, said there was a "real problem" getting people to acknowledge that "slavery exists in the UK" and warned there were "accidents waiting to happen". Morecambe's RNLI crew worked for 22 hours during the search and rescue operation. When he died it was such a loss. The sculpture can be easy to miss. Unlike most of the families in Fujian, Yu knew that her husband was in trouble before she read about it in the newspapers because Guo had a mobile phone with him in Morecambe Bay. Mr Hua agreed to be interviewed and talk about the disaster almost 10 years on. 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. She is the stalwart of her family: a doughty, intelligent woman with the only skilled, white-collar job among all the people that we have been meeting. I know it would influence them in a bad way. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF. Now the creditors never stop bothering us." 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. In any case, she says, her son no longer wants to go to school. Now living under witness protection, he told BBC Inside Out of his "despair" before help arrived. Research led by Durham University last year found evidence that the numbers of people trafficked for labour exploitation would soon exceed those brought to the country for sexual exploitation. 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. 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. "My family are all healthy and we are happy. They need to be repaid. Mr Gradwell claimed other similar disasters could still occur because people are willing to exploit the poorest in society for their own ends. Chen's mother wails when she sees me and falls to her knees to beg for help. "The only way I can bear life now is to imagine that he is still alive.". The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Mr Hua said: "I could not believe I was being rescued and I was alive again.". The Morecambe Bay victims were aged between 18 and 45, Jurors in the manslaughter trial were taken out on the sands in a hovercraft. [19] This song was later covered by folk musician Christy Moore.[20]. And with that, he slips back into the background. As we drive away, I notice the propaganda slogan daubed on the walls of her house in big red characters: "Serve Economic Development.
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