EMERGENCY services were called out to Morecambe Bay after a group of cocklers went missing - just two weeks away from the first anniversary of the Hest Bank tragedy, which claimed the lives of 23 Chinese cockle pickers.
Liverpool Coastguard was alerted just after 5pm on Friday night (January 21) when three people were feared missing in the Bay.
Maritime and Coastguard Agency Duty press officer Mark Clark said that of six cocklers in a party working one of the grounds at Morecambe Lodge, Hest Bank, only three had come back.
Coastguard teams from Morecambe and Arnside rushed to the scene, the RNLI hovercraft from Morecambe was launched, and police units, a Police helicopter and a fire crew joined the rescue effort.
However, it was later iscovered that one of the three had earlier come ashore then returned to the grounds using a quad bike, and after covering some distance, eventually found and brought back the missing three.
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