China doll factory fire kills 7 teenagers

Labor rights groups condemn Chinese toy factories for employing young people in sweatshop conditions

By CNN's Rose Tang

CHENGHAI, China -- A suspected arson in a doll factory in southern China has killed seven teenaged female workers, Chinese state-run media reports.

Six workers, aged between 17 and 19 years, died in the blaze that broke out in a workroom just before 3 o'clock on Wednesday at the factory in Yanhong county in the Guangdong province, Nanfang Daily reported Thursday.

Another worker was drowned near the site of the fire in the privately owned doll factory. The newspaper didn't explain the details.

The victims were all migrant workers from impoverished areas of Fujian and Guizhou provinces.

International labor rights groups have long condemned the shocking working and living conditions in numerous Guangdong toy sweatshops that often employ young migrant workers.

The paper quoted a worker that escaped the fire saying she witnessed a male worker bashing his girlfriend, an employee of the factory, just before the blaze broke out.

Nanfang Daily said about nine female workers were asleep in the workroom at the time. Another witness said the boyfriend blocked the door of the workroom trapping the workers inside.

Police suspect the blaze was started deliberately.