A BOY found a human skull on ‘Devil’s beach’ decades after a disaster killed 23 people – in a discovery that could solve the mystery.
Nearly two dozen Chinese workers drowned on Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, in a cockling disaster in 2004.
AlamyPolice and rescue workers carry a body into an ambulance at Morecambe lifeboat station during the disaster[/caption]
AlamyA total of 23 people died during the tragedy[/caption]
AlamyA trailer loaded with cockles drives past a shrine constructed in memory of the Chinese cockle pickers at the site in Morecambe Bay[/caption]
AlamyThe victims of the disaster were all illegal immigrants[/caption]
Mum-of-two Jenny, 50, husband Mick, 52, and their 10-year-old twins were renting a holiday home by the sea and were walking along Cove Road Beach, Silverdale, to go fossil hunting on Easter Sunday when the discovery was made.
Lancashire Police has said it is “keeping an open mind” if it can rule out the family’s find was linked to the deaths.
The inexperienced cocklepickers were all illegal immigrants working for a criminal gang when the tide rose during the tragedy.
Panicked worker Guo Binglong shouted “sinking water, sinking water” in a 999 call before the phone went dead.
Gang leader Lin Liang Ren was found guilty of their manslaughter in March 2006 and handed a 14-year sentence.
He was deported to China in September 2012.
Girlfriend Zhao Xiao Qing and his cousin, Lin Mu Yong, were also convicted of immigration offences.
The only victim whose body remains unaccounted for is Dong Xin Wu, 39.
Another human skull was also previously found near Silverdale Point on the same coastline as the Easter discovery – and was proved to be the remains of victim Liu Qin Ying in October 2010.
Jenny and Mick’s twin son and daughter – both “really interested in fossils and dinosaurs” – picked up several bones.
They assumed they were from animals at first.
Jenny told the MailOnline: “My son looked down and saw the skull in between rocks.” He told his mum: “That doesn’t look like an animal or a rock.”
What happened in the Morecambe Bay cockle picking disaster?
On the evening of February 5 2004, 23 Chinese undocumented migrants were drowned by an incoming tide at Morecambe Bay while harvesting cockles off the Lancashire coast.
Fifteen other labourers from the same group managed to return safely to shore.
During the investigation and trial, it was found the labourers were inexperienced, spoke little English and were unfamiliar with the area.
Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was found guilty of their manslaughter in March 2006 and handed a 14-year sentence.
He was deported to China in September 2012.
Girlfriend Zhao Xiao Qing and his cousin, Lin Mu Yong, were also convicted of immigration offences.
“When I first realised it was a human skull, a cold shiver went down my spine,” Mick said.
Jenny added: “It was not until we found the skull that the penny dropped that these were human remains.”
As the tide was coming in, Jenny and her family picked up the skull and other bones and took them ashore – before reporting their find to the police.
Jenny got a call from Lancashire Police “within minutes” of reporting it online and they sent a detective to the beach to talk to her the same afternoon.
The mum described the officers who came down as “taken aback”. The bones were put into bags and taken to the coroners’ office.
She added that they had “mentioned outstanding missing persons from the cocklepicking disaster”, adding that “cocklepickers was my first thought”.
Lancashire Police told MailOnline it did not rule out a connection with the cockling disaster, adding they are liaising with the coroner.
Anyone with information which could assist our investigation is asked to call 101. Quote log 745 of 31st March 2024.
The Sun has approached the force for further comment.
ReutersThe area of Morecambe Bay where the cockle pickers died[/caption]
AlamySilhouetted groups of men in the Ribble Estuary cockling in 2011[/caption]
AlamyFloral tributes to the tragic cocklepickers drowned at Morecambe Bay[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
