¡¡LONDON, Aug. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- More than 130 cockle pickers were rescued from Morecambe Bay in northwestern England after they became stranded in treacherous sands when two tractors collided onSaturday.

    A group of 60 Scottish cocklers and another team of 76 cocklerswere guided to safety, only a few miles from where 21 Chinese cockle hunters drowned in February.

    Hovercraft, helicopters and boats were used to carry out the rescue before the afternoon high tide, but nobody was injured, said a BBC report.

    Cumbria Police spokesman Mike Head said police were probing theincident to see if any criminal offenses had been committed.

    A spokesman for the Liverpool Coastguard said it was the 16th operation launched this year to rescue stranded cocklers in the area.

    Geraldine Smith, the Labor lawmaker for Morecambe, has made fresh calls for tougher regulations for cockle picking in the area.

    "There is a tragedy waiting to happen in that bay," she said.

    Late last month, coastguards in the area warned that a repeat of the cockling tragedy in Morecambe Bay could easily happen againand rescuing cocklers is getting harder because they travel further from the shore as shellfish stocks decline.

    The bay, which covers 120 square miles, is a rich cockle-hunting ground but notorious for its fast moving tides and dangerous quick sands. Enditem