Dozens of workers fainted at a garment factory in Kompong Chhnang province on Friday after seeing one of their colleagues have a seizure, which they feared was caused by an electric shock from her sewing machine, a police official said.
The incident occurred at the Golden Apparel plant in Kompong Tralach district at about 10 a.m. when Kol Pisey, a 24-year-old line worker, began convulsing at her station, according to district police chief Meas Siphin.
“When they were working, one woman began drooling and convulsing, and it seemed like a seizure,” Mr. Siphin said, adding that 42 nearby workers then fainted, thinking she had been shocked by her electric sewing machine.
“We checked, and it was not caused by the electricity system,” he said. “The 40 fainted because one person said ‘electric shock’ and the others got scared.”
Mr. Siphin said Ms. Pisey and the other workers were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, but that most of them quickly recovered and were sent home.
