Hundreds fall sick in Bangladesh factory HUNDREDS of employees of a Bangladeshi garment plant near the capital have fallen ill after drinking suspected contaminated water at work, police and factory officials say. The incident follows the collapse of a building housing five garment factories in April that killed 1129 people and triggered renewed scrutiny of "made-in-Bangladesh" clothes commonly sold in Europe and North America. "Primarily we suspect the water supply of the Starlight Sweaters factory was poisoned or contaminated," local industrial police officer Mahfuzur Rahman said from Gazipur, a suburb of Dhaka. B. Ali, the administrative officer of the factory, said the number of affected workers could be as high as 600. The workers have been sent to different hospitals after they reported stomach pain and started vomiting. We estimate the number could be up to 600," he said. Late on Wednesday, hospital officials said all the sick workers were out of danger. Officials said the workers were engaged in making garments for big-name overseas labels but did not immediately identify the brands. The factories in the doomed Rana Plaza building just outside Dhaka had made clothing for foreign retailers including Italy's Benetton, Britain's Primark and Spain's Mango An official from Bangladesh's Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which represents the country's 4500 garment plants, said the contamination could have been deliberate. We are suspecting that it was poisoning of the water. It could be some sort of pesticide," S.M. Mannan, a vice president of the BGMEA, said. This is an A-grade factory. It has its own water supply which comes from a deep tube well, so there is no scope for contamination. Someone might have mixed poison to the water," he said. Of those who fell sick, around 40 were admitted to hospital while the rest were released after treatment, according to doctors and BGMEA officials.