Relatives in southern China have had an anxious wait for news

One man told how he stopped working because of a headache, then watched as his wife and fellow cocklers were swept out to sea, overtaken by the tide.

Nineteen Chinese, thought to be illegal migrants, died in the accident.

China and Britain have pledged to work more closely to tackle Chinese migration in light of the disaster.

The Straits Metropolitan Daily reported that seven families from the town of Fuqing in Fujian province, south-east China, said they had relatives missing.

The families all spent between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan ($24,000-36,100) to get their relatives, who ranged in age from just under 18 to 41, to England, the paper said.

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It reported that none of the migrants had any higher education, they had no specialist skills, and none had previous experience in working with the sea.

The online edition of the paper was full of stories of those who made the journey to the UK, as well as photos and backgrounds of the missing.

Villagers from Sanshan told the newspaper's reporter how one husband and wife, whose names they did not wish to release, had gone together to the beach to collect shellfish.

Because the husband had a headache, he went ashore to watch. Soon afterwards he saw with his own eyes his wife being drowned, the paper said.

Other villagers said they had heard from relatives involved in the incident to say they were safe.

"The Chinese Government attaches great importance to the incident," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.

"We are ready to work with the British side to jointly crack down on international criminal activities, like the illegal smuggling of people."

Chinese security officials are expected to come to Britain, and a law enforcement official is set to be posted to the UK's Beijing embassy.

Ms Zhang said Chinese diplomatic staff in Britain were also working with the British police to identify the dead and any missing, and to help the injured.