Suicide crisis continues at iPod factory

Death count rises to 11 this year

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The “spiraling suicide crisis” at Foxconn electronics plant in China’s Shenzhen province worsened last night as a worker tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists, the Times of London reports. The attempt came just hours after the death of a 23-year old worker that brought to 11 the number of suicides at the company this year. Psychologists and experts in suicide have begun to talk of a “mass hysteria” among the 350,000 mostly migrant workers at the factory in southern China, which makes digital equipment such as iPods, mobile phones and laptop PCs for big-name clients. Sony has begun “re-evaluating” the working environment at Foxconn, the paper reports, and is understood to have asked employees to sign a pledge that they would seek medical help if they were ever overcome by suicidal thoughts. The fatalities come amid mounting condemnation of working conditions at the Taiwanese-owned plant and the decision of several of the company’s biggest clients — Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard — to investigate how their products are being manufactured.

Times Online