An elderly man died after falling in the street and being ignored by passers-by for more than an hour.

The 88-year-old man from Wuhan City in Hubei Province fell over and injured his nose on Saturday. No one came to his aid and he drowned in his own blood, according to Chutian Metropolis Daily, a Wuhan newspaper.

The man, surnamed Li, fell over just 100 meters from his home. People gathered to look but no one helped. He was not taken to hospital until an hour and half later, when his wife and children found him after being alerted by a neighbor.

Li's wife, surnamed Zhou, said: "If someone had helped him to his feet, or just turned him over, he may not have died."

A similar incident happened earlier in Shanghai, but this time the elderly person survived. The Laoximen police station near the Yuyuan Garden said people reported the man had fallen and his nose was bleeding, but no one was willing to help him.

Police arranged for him to go to the hospital.

People have become less willing to help those involved in accidents following a number of cases in which those who have stopped to give aid have subsequently been held responsible for the accident and ordered to pay compensation.

Lei Hong, a professor in the sociology department of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said: "People tend to believe that helping people may bring about trouble or even disaster to themselves."