Beijing has reported 401 deaths from accidents and fires in the first four months of the year, the municipality's work safety bureau said on Tuesday.

The bureau filed 358 road and work accidents in the first four months of the year, 20 percent down on the same period of last year. The 401 deaths were down 19.5 percent year-on-year.

The bureau recorded four accidents that each killed two people in April, said Zhou Yuqiu, director of the municipal work safety bureau.

Zhou said the main causes of the accidents were neglect of work safety, poor management and improper operation.

Beijing has launched its sixth annual program to raise awareness of work safety, said Zhou.

In early May, the Ministry of Supervision punished 133 people who were held responsible for five serious accidents that claimed 249 lives. Fifty-one of them were transferred to judicial departments and 82 government officials at city and county levels have been disciplined.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2007)