More than 50 workers with a Longgang factory were taken to hospital after having a Spring Festival reunion dinner at a nearby restaurant, the Shenzhen Evening News reported Monday.

According to the report, the factory arranged for its 100 or more employees to have a get-together reunion dinner with workers from another factory Friday to celebrate the coming Spring Festival.

Later that night, some of the workers began to feel sick with symptoms of vomiting and stomachache, the report said.

Eleven were taken to hospital Saturday while 39 were hospitalized Sunday after developing similar symptoms.

The first 11 had recovered, the factory manager said.

According to a victim, who declined to be identified, the dinner was the best they had ever had in the year, with a large variety of food including lobster.

The restaurant said a lot of factories had had festival reunion dinners in recent days, but there had been no complaints.

The matter is being investigated.

(Shenzhen Daily February 1, 2005)