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Another Foxconn employee falls to death
May-25-2010

An employee of Foxconn Technology Group died after falling from a building at the company's plant in Shenzhen early Tuesday morning, the latest in a string of such deaths at the company's Shenzhen plant.

It was the ninth such death and the 11th such fall at the plant in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, this year. Two Foxconn employees were severely injured in failed suicide attempts.

The death was confirmed by the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau Tuesday. But police have not yet determined whether the death was suicide or an accident.

Chen Hongfang, deputy director of Foxconn's labor union, said the dead man is Li Hai, a 19-year-old male who had only worked in the South China Training Center in Foxconn's Guanlan plant for 42 days.

"Li was a vocational-school graduate from central China's Hunan Province. He fell from a building at Foxconn's Guanglan plant at 6:20 a.m.," Chen said.

Sources familiar with the matter said Li left a note to his father in which he said he was sorry he could no longer take care of him.

"I have no capabilities. I have got what I deserve," sources also quoted the note as saying.

Foxconn is part of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and makes computers, game consoles and mobile phones for companies including Hewlett-Packard Co., Sony Corp. and Nokia Corp.

Of Foxconn's 800,000 employees in China, 420,000 are based in Shenzhen. They work shifts and live inside the massive factory complex.

Talking or answering phone calls during work time is forbidden and workers are not allowed to leave production lines unless the line supervisor temporarily takes their place, said Foxconn employee Cheng Lin.