BEIJING, May 30 (Reuters) - Accidents kill 100,000 Chinese children a year, with roads and drowning claiming the majority of lives as families struggle to adjust to rapid urbanisation, the official Xinhua agency said on Wednesday.

Accidents -- including animal attacks and simple falls -- also handicap nearly half a million others, according to a report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Road-building programmes and changes in transportation as China's cities boom are to blame for the rising accident toll because they increased the risks children faced each day, Xinhua quoted a government committee on child welfare as saying.

China topped the world list of road deaths and accidents last year, with nearly 99,000 people killed in 450,000 accidents.

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