China Foxconn worker falls to death, 7th this year

A worker was killed after falling from a Foxconn dormitory in southern China, the seventh employee to die this year after falling from buildings at the world's top contract maker of cellphones, state media reported on Saturday.

Foxconn, whose clients include Apple and Sony Ericsson, has faced criticism over the welfare of its employees after the spate of apparent suicides.

Police were investigating whether the latest death was suicide, the official Xinhua news agency said. A total of nine Foxconn workers have plunged from buildings in 2010, it said, adding that two of them did not die.

The Taiwanese firm has a sprawling factory base in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, where an estimated 3,00,000 workers churn out products for the world's leading computer and phone companies in round-the-clock shifts.