GUANGZHOU: A migrant worker severely injured in a dispute over unpaid wages in south China's Guangdong Province died in hospital on Tuesday, according to the local government.

Lei Mingzhong from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, died at 10:30 pm.

Local government officials visited the hospital to offer their condolences to Lei's family.

Lei had been on a life-support machine since his admittance to hospital on Friday.

The government of Heyuan city, where the conflict occurred, held a press conference on Tuesday.

It said the incident had been identified as "a violent conflict triggered by a dispute over economic contracts", rather than a mass assault on migrant workers.

Huang Juping, a government spokesperson, said about 100 migrant workers were incited by their Shenzhen-based employer, Qiutian Construction Co, to ask for a rise from Fuyuan Hydropower Development Co, the proprietor of the hydropower station where they worked.

Qiutian Co said it had held back the workers wages for four months because Fuyuan had refused to pay compensation for losses suffered when some of the company's equipment and tools were washed away in a flash flood last summer.

The migrant workers, led by Qiu Haodi, a Qiutian Co manager, started to dismantle installations at the power station after their request was turned down, when "gangsters" armed with spades, axes and steel pipes attacked them.

The workers petitioned the local government on Friday. After several hours of government mediation, they returned home.

Fuyuan has agreed to pay the medical costs of the injured workers. Construction of the hydropower station has be suspended until all "matters are resolved" between the two companies.

An investigation into the conflict is still under way.

Xinhua

(China Daily 07/05/2007 page3)