The number of deaths in China from incidents involving special equipment such as elevators, cranes and boilers declined in 2013, an official with the country's quality watchdog said on Monday.

Song Jihong, director of the special equipment bureau at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said that, on average, 46 people were killed for every 1 million special equipment items in 2013, 5.7 fewer people per million items than 2012.

There were more than 9 million items of special equipment in China last year, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent.