English archbishop calls for thorough inquiry into Chinese deaths

Published: 2004-02-24

LANCASTER, England (CNS) -- Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool, England, called for a thorough investigation into the deaths of 20 Chinese cockle pickers who were swept to their deaths by incoming tides. The archbishop told about 500 people at an interfaith memorial service at Lancaster's St. Peter's Cathedral Feb. 22: "We pray that such a tragedy will not happen again. We owe it to these men and women, our brothers and sisters, who have died that we will endeavor to seek ways to remedy this pain the Chinese community must feel so deeply. "The tragedy of Morecambe Bay demands that questions are asked and that the inquiry is searching, rigorous and thorough. Questions must be asked, wrongs named, evil confronted, guilt never ignored," the archbishop said. The 20 immigrants from China had been picking cockles in Morecambe Bay in the north of England when they were caught by tides. Police from Britain and China are investigating the Feb. 5 incident.

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