BEIJING, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Chinese investigators said a woman who died this week at a company that makes computer components for the U.S. market may be the latest in a series of suicides.
The 22-year-old, who worked in the packaging department, fell from a dormitory at a Foxconn factory in Kunshan, the BBC reported. Investigators were trying to determine whether she took her own life.
At least 13 suicides have been reported this year among the more than 800,000 employees of Foxconn and other companies owned by its parent, Hon Hai, the BBC said. China as a whole had a suicide rate of nearly 14 per 100,000 people a year as of 1999, figures from the World Health Organization show.
Hon Hai, the largest manufacturer of electronics components in China, supplies Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
The suicides have raised concerns about working conditions in Chinese factories, with relatives of the dead blaming a speedy production pace.
