DHAKA, Bangladesh — Hundreds of workers in a Bangladesh garment factory near the capital fell sick on Wednesday after drinking suspected contaminated water in their workplace, police and factory sources said.

"Primarily we suspect the water supply of the Starlight Sweaters factory was poisoned or contaminated," local industrial police officer Mahfuzur Rahman told AFP.

Many of the workers at the factory in Gazipur, a town located 16 miles from Dhaka, were taken to hospital after they started vomiting in the morning, Rahman said.

The factory's administrative officer Based Ali said the number of affected workers could be as high as 600.

The accident follows the collapse of a building housing five garment factories in April that killed 1,129 people.

The tragedy has led to renewed scrutiny of "Made-in-Bangladesh" clothes which are commonly sold in the West.

The factories in the collapsed nine-story Rana Plaza just outside Dhaka had made clothing for Western retailers including Italy's Benetton, Britain's Primark, and Spain's Mango.