Worker commits suicide at Foxconn factory, reports Chinese media

Several Chinese media outlets are reporting that a 20-year-old worker at Foxconn's factory in Chengdu killed himself on Thursday, marking the latest in a long string of bleak news for employees of the electronics giant here.

The young man died after jumping off a factory building, according to reports from Hong Kong and the China-based 21st Century Business Herald. This is the first report this year of a Foxconn-related suicide, but the company faced intense public scrutiny last year after a string of suicides at its massive Shenzhen-based plant. In response, the Taiwanese-based firm raised worker salaries, pledged to improve working conditions and installed suicide nets. But with three workers dead in an explosion last Friday, the company's new Chengdu-based mega-factory, which makes the iPad2, is coming under the glare.