Children as young as six are attempting suicide because of abuse, bullying and other problems, according to the children's counselling service ChildLine.

Some even try to kill themselves while on the telephone to the helpline, says a report by the charity.

ChildLine receives 1,500 calls a year from youngsters and of these, 500 phone specifically because they want to kill themselves.

More than half of the suicidal callers were from one-parent families and a fifth were living "outside traditional family structures" - for instance, in care or on the streets.

More than 150 will have attempted suicide just before the call or will try to during their call by slashing their wrists or taking overdoses. The majority of these callers are aged 13 to 18 but counsellors have had to deal with suicidal children as young as six.

When this happens, counsellors try to find out where the child is to get an ambulance to them in a desperate bid to save their lives.

But, because ChildLine is a confidential service, the charity does not know what becomes of the hundreds of children who call and attempt to kill themselves.

The report warns that half of young people who attempt suicide will try to kill themselves again, often within a few months.

TV presenter Esther Rantzen, who helped found ChildLine, said: "Young death is always painful but young suicide is the most painful of all - because it is preventable.

"One of the most poignant admissions in the report is from a suicidal child who told her ChildLine counsellor: 'I hug myself and pretend someone else is comforting me'. It is appalling that any child should feel so alone.

"Some of these children have had such painful lives filled with abuse that we can only wonder they have found the courage to survive at all."

The report includes details of a 13-year-old girl who called the charity after swallowing a bottle of painkillers, saying she did not want an ambulance, just someone to talk to as she died. She had been raped by her father a year earlier and blamed herself for the abuse.

What are you views on this? Contact us and let us know.

The report analysed 701 calls to ChildLine from suicidal youngsters between 1998 and 1999. Most had chronic, multiple problems including sexual or physical abuse, neglect, low self-esteem, bullying, family breakdown and exam pressures.

Of the calls, 574 were from girls and 126 from boys, reflecting the fact that women are more likely to talk about their problems than men.

And while men are more likely to die as a result of suicide than women, four times as many young women attempt to kill themselves.

The charity called for better support for youngsters after they had attempted suicide.

ChildLine's chief executive Dr Carole Easton said: "The most dangerous time for these desperate young people can pass if there is a friendly, caring voice on the end of the phone, or even better, a trusted adult they know.

"But once these young people are past the moment of crisis, they are likely to fall victim to a chronic shortage of facilities to provide more long-term help.

"People whose job it is to provide this help must look beyond the depressed, self-destructive behaviour to the experiences and pain beneath - for example, long-term abuse, bullying or emotional neglect - and be prepared to work with young people on these underlying problems."