Fifteen bodies of cockle hunters have been found after being trapped on Thursday night by rising tides in a northwest England bay, British police said Friday.

Several others are still missing at Morecambe Bay, notoriously dangerous for its fast rising tides and quick sands. At least 12 of the group have been rescued or walked ashore themselves.

Police said all the cocklers were Chinese who do not speak English.

Two survivors were seen being pulled apparently alive from the water. And earlier at least 10 managed to get ashore safely, three of them taken to hospital and at least four to Lancaster police station.

It is not known if any of the missing people have made it to land or if they have been swept out to sea. Lifeboats are still searching the area.

It is said that the group set out to go cockling at about 1500 GMT on Thursday, but the tide came in and they became trapped on mud flaps. A member of the public raised the alarm at about 2120 GMT.

Royal Air Force, coastguards and police have been searching the water overnight, while mountain rescue teams have been searching the coast with dogs.

Andy Binstead, of Bowland Pennine mountain rescue, said the teams were deeply distressed to have found the bodies.

"It's awful. It's one of the things we always hope we never come up with. Usually we got to people in time, or help someone out, which is what we exist for," he told the BBC.

Local lawmaker Geraldine Smith told BBC News 24 that cockling had become "a really controversial issue" in recent weeks.

"The problem is that Morecambe Bay is a public fishery, so anyone can come and fish," she said.

The estimated value of the cockles on Morecambe beach was 6 million pounds, which had lured people from all over Britain and beyond, she noted. 

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2004)