Twelve workers at the Due Cotton factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district fainted on Saturday while working and were sent to a private clinic, officials said.

Choub Sitha, Meanchey district’s Prek Pra commune chief, said the workers fainted because of a stifling factory environment and inadequate food.

“One worker got diarrhoea, and the others around her started to pass out,” he said.

The factory’s more than 100 workers were allowed to take a break and would return to work on Monday, when Ministry of Labour experts will inspect the factory, he said, noting that this was the first fainting incident there.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mom Kunthear at [email protected]