Foxconn Employee Commits Suicide After iPad 2 Factory Explosion [Breaking]

Foxconn’s public relations issues have just collided. A week after an explosion rocked Foxconn’s iPad 2 production facility in Chengdu, China, an employee of that facility has committed suicide.

We don’t have many details right now, except that the worker — a 20 year old male — leaped from a building in the Chengdu City facility today.

It’s unknown whether or not the employee’s suicide was a reaction to the explosion on May 20th that killed three people and injured dozens more, or if it’s unrelated. Given the pressures of the subsequent investigation, in which Foxconn higher-ups are looking to assign blame, and the state of sadness and mourning that must exist right now at the Chengdu facility, both possibilities seem likely.

Foxconn’s problems with worker suicide have become a PR nightmare for the iPhone and iPad maker, and they have taken agfressive steps to stem the loss of life, including mandating that workers sign an “anti-suicide pledge.” The suicide at Chengdu today would be the first suicide since the pledge was put into effect.

More details as we get them.

• Via MIC Gadget

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