Police say the body could be one of two missing cockle pickers

Twenty one bodies have been found and identified after workers were caught by a fast-rising tide on 5 February but officers believe 23 may have perished.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "It's likely that the body may be one of the outstanding victims."

A post mortem examination on the body - found on Sunday - is due to be carried out on Tuesday.

Police believe one of the two remaining missing pickers, 37-year-old Liu Qin Ying, is the wife of a man whose body has already been found.

The other missing man is 38-year-old Dong Xin Wu.

The body was spotted by workers on a platform in the Morecambe Bay gas field, 25 miles off the coast.

The Fleetwood lifeboat was called and it took the body back to shore.

Twenty of the victims identified by detectives were from the Fujian province of China, and one was from the Liaoning province.

Officers from Lancashire Police flew out to China in April to interview the families of those who were believed to have died.