An Italian father and son have been shot dead after being mistaken for elephant poachers at a wildlife park in Zimbabwe.
The two men, identified as Caludio Chiarelli and his son Max Chiarelli, were members of the volunteer anti-poaching organisation Zambezi Society, which was conducting patrols in Mana Pools National Park on Sunday, according to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
Reports said the father and son had been with a group sent out to relieve a team of rangers deployed the previous day to follow a trail of suspected poachers. “The rangers… saw movement in the thicket, heard voices and opened fire, accidently shooting and killing on the spot the pair,” the parks agency said in a statement.
They added: “Unbeknown to them these were fresh deployments who had come to replace the rangers and had stopped to attend to a mechanical problem on their vehicle.”
An official from the Italian embassy in Harare confirmed the deaths and said the father, who is a professional hunter, had been taking eight park rangers in his vehicle to relieve the group from which the shots were fired.
The official, who declined to be named, said Chiarelli had lived in Zimbabwe since 1982 and his son Max had been born in the Southern African country.
"It seems like an accident. We are in contact with Foreign Affairs to get an official report," the official said, referring to the Zimbabwean government department.
Mana Pools adjoins the Zambezi River, which runs along Zimbabwe's border with Zambia. Authorities have for years been battling poachers, most of whom come from Zambia and who have recently been using cyanide to kill elephants.
Poachers cut off the dead animals' tusks and sell them to dealers for up to $65,000 a kilogram, according to conservationists. The ivory is ultimately used for ornamental carving in China and other parts of east Asia.
Additional reporting by wires
