China's "human flesh search engine" is in hot pursuit of an unnamed Chinese factory worker after photographs of her showed up unexpectedly on a new iPhone 3G purchased recently in Britain.

In one of the photos, a young woman dressed in a pink striped factory uniform and wearing a matching white cap and rubber gloves, is seen smiling and flashing a "V" sign as she leans over an iPhone assembly line.

The photos were discovered by an iPhone user in Britain who promptly posted his find on the MacRumors forum, setting off a global chain reaction of media interest and culminating in the quest by Chinese internet users to discover her identity.