Fourteen slave workers were rescued from a small brick kiln in the remote area of Huizhou, Guangdong, on Wednesday, but it is believed several dozen more remained in the hands of the kiln owners last night.
The workers were from seven provinces, regions or municipalities - Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Chongqing. They had to work for 15 hours a day but received little pay: a worker was paid 5 yuan (HK$5.98) after working for three months, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.
Some workers said they were cheated by illegal job agencies and sold to the kiln owners, who were not arrested, for 400 yuan each. Huang Ruiming, said he was kidnapped by thugs in his hometown on Saturday and taken to Guangdong.
'We were not allowed to make any phone calls after being taken here. I was even followed by the thugs when going to toilet,' Wang Yaxing, one of three underage workers rescued, told the Guangzhou Daily. 'They didn't let me go home, and they beat me.'
Officials from the Lilin town government helped rescue the workers after receiving the report from the newspaper. They said the kiln had opened about eight years ago and said they would check about a dozen similar kilns nearby soon.
It is the second slave labour case in Huizhou in less than three months and triggered a public outcry, asking for harsher laws to protect workers.