About 20 workers at an apparel factory in Kandal province fell unconscious Monday, police said.
The mass fainting occurred just after lunchtime at the Quint Major Industrial factory in Ang Snuol district after the workers smelled “unidentified fumes,” said acting district police chief Heng Chenda, adding that the factory was poorly ventilated, which might also have contributed to the faintings.
“None of them is in very serious condition, but they were sent to nearby hospitals,” he said of the workers who collapsed.
According to Mr. Chenda, the factory, which employs about 3,700 people, also had a mass fainting last year.
Seang Sokun, a factory representative for the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union, said that in addition to the mysterious fumes, a worker was shocked twice by a sewing machine Monday, causing her to faint and possibly influencing the others.