AN Italian father and son have been shot lifeless throughout an anti-poaching patrol in Zimbabwe, officers say, in an obvious case of mistaken identification.
Claudio and Massimiliano Chiarelli have been killed on Sunday by wildlife rangers in Mana Pools National Park.
They belonged to a volunteer anti-poaching unit and have been shot whereas repairing a fault on their automobile.
The elder Mr Chiarelli labored as an expert hunter, operating safaris for European vacationers.
Born within the Italian metropolis of Padua, Claudio Chiarelli lived in Zimbabwe for greater than 30 years, the place his son was born.
The President of the Zimbabwe Safari Operators Association, Emmanuel Fundiram, instructed the BBC his loss of life was a “huge loss not only to the family but the hunting fraternity in Zimbabwe”.
The two males had been deployed to alleviate conservation officers despatched to comply with the path of suspected poachers.
“The rangers… saw movement in the thicket, heard voices and opened fire, accidentally shooting and killing on the spot the pair,” the park’s authority mentioned in a press release.
The incident is underneath investigation. Mana Pools has lengthy been a goal of poachers who kill elephants for his or her ivory.
