Ghosts is based on a true story about twenty three Chinese illegal migrant workers who drowned while forced to collect cockles (shellfish) off the coast of England on the night of February 5, 2004. They became cut off by the incoming tide and although one person was able to use a mobile phone to contact rescue services a number of circumstances led to their death. Two bodies were never recovered. 

The 2006 film Ghosts, directed by Nick Broomfield, is a dramatisation of the events leading up to the tragedy.