TWO Chinese men arrested in connection with the manslaughter of 20 cockle pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay have been released on police bail.

The news comes as eight officers from Lancaster jetted off to the Fujian Province of China, believing there are three outstanding missing victims.

On Tuesday an English woman and a Chinese man were released and all charges against them dropped.

A further four arrested in connection with the tragedy have had their bail extended until July by Lancashire Police.

They are no longer suspected of manslaughter but are being questioned over immigration offences.

Police say inquiries into the tragedy, which happened off the sands at Hest Bank on February 5, are expected to take a further two to three months.

"We have consulted at length with the Crown Prosecution Service and they would like to resolve some of these ongoing inquiries," says Det Sup't Michael Gradwell.

But he stresses that any decision to prosecute and the timing of charges is for the Crown Prosecution Service to make.

DCI Steve Brunskill, who is leading the party to China, says: "We are confident that we know the names of all 20 who died, but DNA evidence will complete the final piece of the identity jigsaw.

"At this time there are still three outstanding missing persons who were believed by their families to be cockle pickers at Morecambe and have not been in contact since the tragedy. We will have a clearer picture about this after the work in China has been completed."

Accompanying DCI Brunskill will be Inspector Graham Her-rmann, Sgt Lloyd Bell, Sgt Ruth Chew, PC Bob Hodgson, PC Paul Hope, PC Steve Gardner and PC Kwok Cheung.