Death revelations bring Foxconn suicides this year to 11
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Another Chinese employee of the Foxconn Technology Group plunged to his death in Shenzhen Friday, the same day the deaths of two Foxconn workers earlier this year at a north China plant were revealed.
Friday's suicide and the new revelations at the plant in Langfang, Hebei Province, bring to 11 the number of attempted suicides by Foxconn staff this year. One of the Langfang staff was said to have died of natural causes, while two other employees in Shenzhen have also fallen from buildings, but they survived.
All the alleged attempted suicides, with nine deaths, were jumps from high buildings.
The two deaths at the plant in Langfang City, Hebei Province, which happened at the beginning of this year, were confirmed Friday by the district government of Anci, after relatives reported them to the media.
Wang Qiunu, a government spokeswoman, said the dead Foxconn workers had been identified as Rong Bo, a 19-year-old man, and Wang Lingyan, a girl aged 16.
Rong died after jumping off the company's dormitory building on Jan. 8. Wang was found dead on her dormitory bed on Feb. 23, said Wang.
"Police investigations have ruled out foul play in the two deaths. The Langfang People's Hospital has maintained that the girl died of sudden cardiac arrest," said the spokeswoman.
She said the families of the dead had each received compensation of 110,000 yuan (16,111 U.S. dollars) from the company.
"Their deaths happened before the series of deaths in the company's Shenzhen plant. The incidents did not receive much media attention at the time," she said.
Foxconn's Langfang plant has 30,000 workers on its payroll.
FATAL FALL IN SHENZHEN PLANT
The dead worker in Shenzhen Friday has been identified as Nan Gang, a 21-year-old man from the central Hubei Province.
He was off duty at around 4 a.m., when he climbed to the top of a four-storey factory building in Foxconn's industrial complex in Longhua Township.
He jumped at 4:37 a.m., said Huang Jianwei, a spokesman of the Bao'an Police Station of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau.
Initial investigations ruled out foul play in Nan's death. The municipal police and labor security authorities said the death was suicide.
Nan landed on his head and died instantly, said a deputy head of the administrative office of the Longhua People's Hospital surnamed Zhou. His body was taken to the hospital by a Foxconn vehicle at 4:50 a.m. and was in the hospital morgue.
The hospital did not send an ambulance because Nan was already dead when it received the report, Zhou said.
A joint team of police and labor authorities are investigating the death.
Nan Gang's colleagues and townsmen, Nan Huan and Nan Xiaowu, told Xinhua he jumped from the F4 building at the complex. They came from Hechong Village, Huanggang City.
Nan Gang was a logistics worker and received a monthly salary of 1,000 to 2,000 yuan (146.5 U.S. dollars to 293 U.S. dollars), Nan Huan said.
"When I met Nan Gang at around 8 p.m. last night, he told me his cell phone had been stolen and that he had little money."
Nan Gang told Nan Huan robbers had extorted from him before and that he would get even with them.
Nan Gang's cousin Nan Feng doesn't think he would die for a cell phone. "Nan Gang changes cell phones several times per year. He would not fight for such a thing."
Nan Xiaowu couldn't believe it when he heard about Nan Gang's death.
"We chatted about the previous jumpers just several days ago. He called them silly. It's unbelievable he would do the same thing."
Guo Feng, head of the logistics department where Nan Gang worked, felt sorry for his death. He said Nan was "quite outstanding."
"Certainly I did criticise him several times. It was just part of my job and definitely no reason for his death."
A report by Beijing Television Thursday showed video footage of factory security guards in black uniforms beating workers in Foxconn's Beijing plant in August last year. The video is circulating on Chinese websites, and has incurred public outrage towards the company managers.
Shenzhen-based Foxconn's company profile on its website says it's the world's top electronics manufacturer with more than 600,000 employees and ranked 109 among the Fortune 500 companies in 2009. Taiwan electronics giant Hon Hai Group is Foxconn's parent company.
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