Human remains have been found near the site of the Morecambe Bay cockling disaster, which claimed the lives of at least 21 people two years ago, police said yesterday.

Children playing on the seafront found the bones, which were passed to pathologists for tests.

The Chinese cocklers drowned after they were caught in rising tides off Hest Bank in February 2004. The bodies of two cocklers have never been found.

A spokesman for Cumbria Police said: "We are still trying to identify the human remains. They are basically bones."

Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was jailed for 14 years on 21 counts of manslaughter.