CHINA: With over 200 people trying to jump off it to end their life, China's Nanjing Yangtze Bridge tops the list as the most preferred suicide spot for the Chinese here.

A police officer from the Nanjing Railway Police, known only as Zeng, said while most of the suicide attempts managed to be stopped, about 15 people still managed to jump off the road and rail bridge and died.

Zeng denied media reports that since 1968 over 2,000 people ended their lives at the bridge, but concurred that the bridge spanning the Yangtze has become a favourite suicide location.

Police records show that the number of people rescued or restrained at the bridge ranged from 100 to 200 per year.

The 5,773 meter Nanjing bridge is the first bridge on the Yangtze River and was completed in 1969 after a nine-year construction period.

It was hailed as a major engineering feat of the People's Republic of China for a long time and had always been a major tourist attraction there.

Nanjing Neurosurgery Hospital Crisis Prevention Center director Chen Jin, said Chinese who want to commit suicide often chose famous places and scenic spots for their last moments.

He indicated that the media had encouraged depressed people to target those places after highlighting similar incidents in those places.

Experts say that people jump off the bridge because of unhappy relationships, marital problems, financial burdens and when they could not find a solution to their problems, decided to put a stop to it by ending their life.

But, police said some did not intend to jump but used a suicide attempt as a means of coercing others into fulfilling their demands.

About 280,000 Chinese commit suicide every year, according to official estimations.