BEIJING - Chinese police have arrested 6,900 train ticket scalpers during the Spring Festival travel rush beginning January 8, and confiscated 65,000 tickets, according to a statement by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Tuesday.

The Spring Festival travel season is expected to last till February 16 this year, with hundreds of millions of people, mainly migrant workers and college students, traveling home for the country's most important traditional holiday, according to the Ministry of Railways.

Police have cracked 5,600-odd ticket scalping cases to date, according to the statement that reviewed public security work during the Spring Festival, or Chinese lunar new year.

No stampede or fatal accidents occurred during over 3,600 public gatherings held during the festival, including religious rituals and entertainment activities, according to the statement.

And no major fire accidents happened, as the police across the country worked hard to screen out fire hazards and beefed up monitoring ahead of and during the festival, said the statement.

The public security authorities, working with security and quality watchdogs, inspected 440,000 firework producers, found 6,200 safety hazards and confiscated 4.98 billion units of fireworks.

The MPS also reported a significant year-on-year decrease in traffic accidents as well as related deaths and economic losses during the festival, but did not give specific figures.