140 workers fall sick in Bangladesh garment factory

DHAKA: More than 140 workers, mostly women, at two Bangladeshi garment factories near the capital Dhaka fell ill yesterday after drinking suspected contaminated water in their workplace, police said.
A series of tragedies since last November when a fire killed 111 people in another factory have triggered renewed scrutiny of “made-in-Bangladesh” clothes commonly sold in the West.
Yesterday’s development comes less than two weeks after up to 600 workers at another garment plant were rushed to hospital after falling sick due to contaminated water.
The incidents follow the collapse of a building housing five garment factories in April that killed 1,129 people, highlighting appalling safety conditions in Bangladesh’s 4,500 garment factories.
Police inspector Humayun Kabir said that several garment workers — most of them women — fell sick yesterday at two garment plants at Joydevpur, an industrial town north of Dhaka.
“At least 141 of them were rushed to one hospital. Some others were taken to other hospitals. The factories were closed for the day,” he said.
“Primarily we suspect the water supply of the factories could be contaminated,” he said.
Officials said the workers were engaged in making garments for Western labels but did not immediately identify the brands.