Tourist is shot dead at end of South Africa safari tour when guide’s gun accidentally goes off

A Canadian man has been shot dead while on safari in South Africa after a park ranger’s gun accidentally went off. 

The 69-year-old had been visiting Kruger National Park, the country’s biggest game reserve. 

After an afternoon seeing wildlife, the man’s tour group pulled over for a sunset barbecue when the park ranger accidentally fired a shot, striking the pensioner in the chest. 

A group member performed first aid on the man while paramedics rushed to the scene, but were unable to save him.

Kruger National Park spokesman JP Louw confirmed the safari park guide was not one of their rangers but worked for a private company that brings tourists into the park. 

He said: ‘Our information so far is that a private guide attached to a concession operator allegedly accidentally discharged a firearm in the Kruger.

‘It resulted in a fatal injury to a 69-year-old Canadian tourist in the national park.

‘The guest was part of a group who booked outside the park and came in for a bush braai offered by a private concession with a valid permit to allow them in the park.

‘This tragic matter is now in the hands of the South African Police’, he said.

Police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo said the victim allegedly approached a concession operator who was holding a rifle and asked whether the firearm was real.

He said: ‘It is alleged that the 69-year-old male tourist approached the concession operator, who was holding a rifle and asked if it was a real firearm.

‘While the operator was demonstrating that it was a real rifle, that was the time when the firearm reportedly discharged, and it killed the tourist instantly’, he said.

Police have opened cases of culpable homicide and reckless handling of a firearm as investigators work to establish the exact sequence of events that led to the shooting.

SANParks (South African National Parks) said it was cooperating with authorities and extended its condolences to the victim’s family.

A spokesperson said: ‘SANParks extends its heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the deceased during this difficult time.’

The tragedy in the South African safari park comes a month after two tourists were brutally stabbed to death and thrown to crocodiles in a river in the Kruger. 

Fellow tourists stumbled across the bodies of a married couple, Ernst Marais, 71, and his wife, Dina, 73, floating in shallow water at an elephant crossing with their hands tied.

The victim’s Ford Ranger twin-cab 4×4 had been stolen by the killers, who were suspected poachers crossing from the South African safari park back to neighbouring Mozambique.

All three have since been arrested in a joint police operation, with two being caught in Mozambique and one in Zimbabwe, and all are facing extradition to South Africa for trial.

The double murders happened on May 25 near the Pafuri gate to the north of the Kruger, which is set in 7500 square miles and is the size of Wales and gets over a million visitors a year.

It is a tourist mecca worth £350m a year to the South African Government.

The couple had gone to Crook’s Corner, which got its infamous name over 100 years ago from poachers, gun runners and slavers who used the remote border area as a hideout.