In slave conditions, without a visa: 163 Chinese workers were rescued from a BYD construction site in Brazil

163 Chinese workers who were held in Brazil under slave conditions were moved to hotels last night (Thursday). According to the Attorney General of the state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, employees of the Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD were found imprisoned at a construction site where they were held in slave conditions after being victims of human trafficking.

The prosecution in Brazil claims that the workers were held by the Chinese contractor ‘Jingjiang Group’, but did not present evidence proving their claims regarding the conditions of slavery in which they were held. It is not clear if the Chinese workers were in Brazil with a proper work visa. The Bahia State Department of Labor did not respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The Attorney General of Bahia revealed on Monday the details of the case that exposed the serious damage to working conditions in the Chinese electric vehicle industry – an industry that gained momentum in the past year and managed to sell more vehicles than most of the major manufacturers in Western Europe, the USA, Japan and South Korea. The 163 employees who were allegedly held in conditions of slavery were found in Kamkari, a city of 300,000 inhabitants located about 1,600 km north of Rio de Janeiro.

The Chinese car manufacturer BYD (acronym for Build Your Dreams) is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electric cars. Earlier this week, she announced that she would “terminate the contract immediately” with the contractor and was “examining other means.”