Two workers have died and 19 others have been hospitalized after having lunch at a restaurant near their company in southern booming city of Shenzhen on Saturday morning.

In addition, 42 workers are receiving medical observation, said Wang Jianjun, spokesman of the Shenzhen-based BYD Company Limited, where all the victims are from.

The 19 hospitalized workers were brought out of critical condition after treatment and the 42 who were under observation at their dorms were in a stable condition, said Wang.

Altogether 63 BYD workers had their lunch around 11 a.m. on Saturday at a restaurant nearby their company in the Baolong Industrial Zone of Longgang District.

However, they later suffered from bellyache and vomit and two workers died in hospital.

The heath department of Shenzhen took samples of water and food from the restaurant for examination and local public security department were searching for the others who also had lunch at the same restaurant.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. Both government and BYD company thought this was highly possible a food poisoning accident.

"We will cooperate with local government for investigation and to protect the rights and interests of our employees," said Wang.

Founded in 1995, BYD, listed in Hong Kong in 2002, is a private high-tech company. It announced itself at its website (www.byd.com.cn) the world's second largest rechargeable batteries and also a major domestic IT components and auto producers with more than 120,000 employees in China.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2008)