A free, 24-hour suicide intervention hotline was launched in Shanghai on Monday.

The hotline — 021-5161-9995 — is run by Life Education and Crisis Intervention Center, a nonprofit organization, and is staffed by trained volunteers.

Compared with similar hotlines in the city, this one extends its service to late nights and early morning, peak times for people to reach out for mental comfort, the hotline operator said.

So far, about 100 volunteers have been trained and were instructed to contact the 110 or 120 emergency hotlines immediately if they suspect a life may be in danger.

The World Health Organization said that each year about 287,000 people kill themselves in China, while about 2 million more attempt it.