The Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday said 398 police officers had died on duty in 2006, their deaths mostly linked to traffic accidents and being overworked.

The total police death toll in the past six years has reached 2,718. The officers, 98 percent male, died on average at the age of 40, while sixty-four of them were under 29, the ministry said.

In 2006, 175 police officers died of illnesses caused by being overworked and 147 others died in fatal traffic accidents. The two factors accounted for 81 percent of police deaths, it said.

However, the road accident death toll was down 27 percent on the previous year, and the death toll from overworking was also down 4.4 percent. The overall police death toll in 2005 was 414.

According to previous police statistics, cardiovascular diseases, cerebral hemorrhages and thrombus were the major killers of China's exhausted police officers.

The ministry said being a police officer is one of China's most dangerous occupations with death and injury frequent.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2007)