Twenty three Chinese workers died when, one fateful night in February 2004, they were cut off from the shore by the rising tide in Morecambe Bay. Fifteen years on, survivor Li speaks exclusively to Sun Online about his anger at those responsible
DESPERATE screams cut through the darkness as the icy tide raced in across Morecambe Bay, cutting off the terrified team of Chinese cockle pickers from the shore.
Li Hua, 26, wailed in agony as he was tossed into the air by a violent wave, which dulled out the panicked cries of his friends as they drowned around him.
As he heard the roar of another wave coming towards him, Li thought he was going to die - until he heard the whirring of a rescue helicopter overhead and began waving his arms frantically in the air.
Miraculously, an infrared camera picked up his image, and coastguards were deployed to rescue him in minutes.
But as he was taken back to shore, Li could see the naked bodies of the 23 cockle pickers who had died in the water around him - their clothes torn off them by the water - and he realised he was the only one left alive.
The tragedy shocked the nation, the deaths of those 23 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay on February 5, 2004, revealing the seedy underbelly of slavery here in Britain.
It was later discovered that the gangmasters they worked for were making £1million a day from their network of slaves - while the victims were only paid £10 per day for their labour.
RNLI volunteers spent nearly 24 hours recovering the bodies of 18 men and three women, with the skull of one not being discovered until years later.
To this day, the bodies of two cockle pickers are still missing.
The terrible tragedy became known as the Morecambe Bay cockling disaster, with Chinese newspapers calling the bay "the Devil's Beach" and Morecambe's lifeboat crew describing the mission as the "most distressing and demanding" rescue operation in their history.
Now, 15 years on from the cockle picking disaster, Li is bravely speaking out as part of the Sun's Stamp Out Slavery campaign on conjunction with the Co Op, revealing his sadness that large-scale modern slavery is still rife in Britain.
A suspected 136,000 people are currently being held against their will here, working everywhere from nail bars to car washes, fruit farms and brothels.
"It hasn't stopped - using slaves is the way these gangmasters made their living, they will still be doing it in other ways, I'm sure," he says.
Li, now 42, had left his home in China after being promised a good job in Britain by a smuggling gang. Instead, he was forced to work seven days a week picking cockles by hand in freezing conditions for just £10 a day. He and his fellow slaves were fed bread and water and made to sleep on concrete floors.
Li was so scared of the evil multi-millionaire gangmasters - known as 'snakeheads' - who smuggled him to the UK, that he worked seven days a week with no pay and little food.
He'd only been in the UK for a few days when he witnessed his friends die in the tragedy.
At 9.13pm that night, police received an emergency call from one of the workers who screamed in broken English: "Sinking water! Sinking water!"
The group had been picking cockles out on the rocks exposed by the low tide, but were cut off when a huge tide raced up the beach, blocking their route back to the shore.
Desperate, the group drove their van erratically over the sands, flashing their lights at the shore in a cry for help.
But as the water rushed over them, the cockle pickers were flung around in the ferocious waters, with one coastguard comparing the waves to like "being inside a washing machine."
Li, who has now rebuilt his life and has two children, says: “By the time I realised the tide was surrounding us, it was too late and the vans were already sinking.
“I dumped everything and ran towards the shore as fast as I could.
“Soon I was being lifted high by the tide and was struggling to keep afloat. I can swim but the tide was so quick and too strong for me to fight.”
Unable to see in the dark, Li and the rest of the team quickly lost their sense of direction.
He recalls: “Everyone was screaming and panicking and crying. I witnessed people drown, sinking into the deep water and never coming up again.
“One moment my feet would be on the sea bed and I could catch my breath, the next second I was thrown high up in a random direction by the angry, freezing cold ocean.
“I was scared, frightened, and felt completely helpless. I thought I was going to die.
“Suddenly everything turned so quiet around me. I heard nothing, and couldn’t sense anything moving or struggling around me. It was dead silent apart from the sounds of the waves.
“I felt numb all over. I didn’t even feel cold anymore as I realised all people I’d worked with that day had drowned and were dead.”
Miraculously, when he’d resigned himself to death, Li was spotted by a rescue helicopter and taken to hospital.
Tragically, by the time the lifeboat crew arrived they were met by a “sea of bodies”.
For Morecambe's lifeboat crew, the haunting memories will never fade. They recently released a statement, saying: "Nothing could have prepared them for that night and the awful tragedy they witnessed.
"That they were unable to save those who lost their lives remains a source of great regret."
The cockling disaster was a tragic end to the lives of 23 slaves who had been promised a better life here in the UK.
But on arrival, they had instead been forced to sleep on the concrete floor in a crowded, unheated flat and work seven days a week for just £10 a day.
Before arriving in the UK, Li grew up in a poverty stricken province in South China.
He tells us: “I worked in our village selling vegetables but it was only enough to just about put food on the table. I wanted to be able to provide more for my family.”
So when he was offered the opportunity to travel to the UK, he jumped at the chance and his mum paid £14,000 and put her house up as security to 'snakehead' gangs to ensure her son's passage to Europe.
The term snakehead is used to describe the Chinese gangs who smuggle people into other countries illegally, making huge profits from extortion and kidnap and charging up to £50,000 per person.
He says: “I paid a lot of money as I was told I could get a better job. I was promised a comfortable place to live.
However Li soon discovered all the promises were lies.
Li explains: “I was just dropped off in London’s Chinatown and wasn’t allowed to ask any questions.”
With no money and unable to speak any English, Li was in a desperate situation.
He explains: “A man approached me and told me there was a job in Liverpool. I was eager to find work so I accepted right way.
“It was only when we got there I was told the job was to pick cockles.
“None of us had done this kind of work before, but we all needed the job to survive so we learned quickly.”
However, life for Li and his 30 plus fellow work team was hard.
He says: “The accommodation was smelly and cold, without heating.
“We had plain bread and tea or water for breakfast.
“25 of us slept in one room, all lined up next to each other each with a blanket each, on the concrete floor.
“Nothing was clean but you just needed a place to rest and sleep.”
Slavery takes a variety of forms, but most commonly forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic work or forced criminal activity.
The Home Office estimated that there are 13,000 people held in slavery in the UK, with the Global Slavery Index suggesting the figure could be as many as 136,000.
The UK recognised a staggering 5,145 victims from 116 countries in 2017, including adults who had been used for organ harvesting and children that were forced into sexual exploitation.
At present, trafficked victims have just 45 days support after being freed before they are expected to leave the UK and are deported by the Home Office.
During this short time, they are given accommodation, financial aid, medical treatment, counselling, a support worker, a translator and legal advice.
We want the government to:
Back Lord McColl's proposed bill, which suggests all victims of modern slavery should be given a year's support to recover.
Alongside that they should be given special support to help them, including housing benefits, financial help and other services.
Not that he had time to relax. No sooner had Li arrived, he was put to work, earning on average £10 a day.
He says: “The work was very hard, seven days a week.
You had one tool to dig and hand picked cockles to fill the bag. One person was able to pick two to three bags a day.
“Each day you would be totally exhausted, and couldn’t be bothered to cook, eat or shower, you’d just sleep.”
Not only was it exhausting, the workers - who weren’t provided with safety equipment like life jackets - weren’t aware of the dangerous unpredictable tide and hidden quicksands.
Li says: “Each day the timing to go out to work would be different. We just followed orders. The danger didn’t cross our mind - we had no choice but to trust the bosses.”
In the months following the disaster, Li struggled to make sense of the atrocious events.
After being intimidated by his gangmasters, Li told police he'd been on a picnic - not working - when disaster struck.
But detectives quickly worked out he was too scared to tell the truth.
Li was then placed in witness protection before giving evidence in court which helped convict leader Lin Liang Ren of 21 counts of manslaughter, facilitating illegal immigration and perverting the course of justice. He was jailed for 14 years - just four months for each workers' life.
The court heard that the gang were making £1m a day by exploiting workers across England, with gangmaster Lin Liang Ren visiting casinos while the exhausted workers dug for cockles.
Ren's cousin Lin Mu Yong was sentenced to four years and nine months and his girlfriend Zhao Xiao Qing was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months, both for facilitation of illegal immigration.
Li said: “I wanted to get justice for those who died.
“All we wanted was to earn enough to survive, and to be treated fairly, and yet all he cared about was money.”
He says: “23 lives were lost - no one can bring them back. I was lucky to survive, but those families who lost their loved ones still feel anger towards those responsible. It’s totally unforgivable and unforgettable.
“The awful memories will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Now, Li has successfully built a new life for himself, working in a Chinese takeaway and lives with his wife and two children - but the horror will never leave him.
He adds: “I try to concentrate on work, but I can’t get rid of the nightmares. They just come without warning, and panic attacks in the middle of the night are unavoidable.
“But my family who are the most important thing in my life. I keep going for them. I’m so grateful to be alive.
"The fear is always there. I do worried for my children once they grow up. I can’t predict those gangsters will vanish or stop doing this to innocent people all over the world.
"I just hope I will always be able to protect my children and my wife if anything should happen.
