Police authority on Wednesday said 398 police officers had died on duty in 2006, their deaths mostly linked to traffic accidents and overwork.

The death toll of police in the past six years since 2001 has reached 2,718, according to a brief press release from the Ministry of Public Security.

The officers, 98 percent male, died on average at the age of 40. Sixty-four of them were under 29, the ministry said.

In 2006, 175 police officers died of illnesses caused by overwork 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. The overwork death toll was also down 4.4 percent. The overall police death toll in 2005 was 414.

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

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

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2007)