Society

Authorities crack down on illegal kiln

By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-13 07:25

GUANGZHOU - Local police rescued 14 workers, including three minors and a retarded person, after shutting down an illegal brick kiln in the city of Huizhou in Guangdong province.

The youngest of the workers was 15 years old and the oldest was 41.

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Most of them left Huizhou and returned home after local police, working with other departments, had destroyed the secret brick kiln early this week, according to Guangzhou Daily.

The newspaper did not publish details about the investigation.

Under the supervision of authorities, the manager of the brick kiln was made to pay his workers the money they had earned on the job, the newspaper reported.

Local residents said the underground brick kiln had been operating in Lilin township in Huizhou's Zhongkai district for 7 to 8 years before it was busted. The investigation came about after family members of the victims began complaining about the conditions at the kiln to local officials.

This undated photo shows scars on the arms of Wang Yaxing, a worker at the brick kiln. [Photo/China Daily]

A police officer from the Huizhou public security bureau refused to comment further on the case, saying an investigation is still proceeding.

Wang Yaxing, 17, one of the workers, said he tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrist twice after he had begun working in the illegal brick kiln.

When he was rescued, Wang, who comes from Guizhou province, had been working in the brick kiln for two weeks.

"Many workers had to work more than 15 hours a day in the kiln," Wang told local media.

"I once wanted to escape, but they (the brick kiln's bosses) used bricks and wooden rods to beat me."

Wang said he would be followed by somebody from the kiln at nearly all times, even when he went to the toilet.

"Now I really want to leave the brick kiln for home," he said after being rescued.

And Li Dehui, 22, another worker, said he was taken to the secret brick kiln after he had read a recruitment poster and been fooled into entering a van owned by an illegal job recruiter.

Li, who is from Chongqing, said he was forced to sign an IOU after he had arrived at the kiln. The paper signified that he was indebted for the 400 yuan ($61.5) the manager of the brick kiln had paid to buy him from the job recruiter.

"The boss said I had to pay the debt if I wanted to leave the brick kiln," Li said. "But I had no money, not even a penny."

Li said he turned to his family for help.

"After the boss began to trust me, I was able to call my father and tell him what had happened on me," he said.

Li's father, Li Xiuquan, came to Huizhou and sought help from local government departments.

Li said he lived in a wooden house with poor conditions and ate bad food.

The workers, who often had to stay on the job until midnight, would receive only 5 yuan for three months of toil, Li said.

In addition to being fooled into taking the job by illegal recruiters, the workers at the brick kiln had been directly kidnapped from the streets, Li said.

Huizhou officials said the brick kiln had been operating for many years.

They said it was difficult to shut down because it lay in the city's remote mountainous area.

Authorities said there might be more than a dozen such kilns in Huizhou, a city bordering the Shenzhen special economic zone,.

Authorities have promised to start a special campaign to crack down on illegal brick kilns throughout the city.