Hunting accident Hunter in Vaud accidentally shoots colleague

A 64-year-old man was fatally injured by a shot in a hunting accident in the canton of Vaud on Friday. According to the police, it was initially unclear exactly how and why the accident occurred.

The man had been hunting a herd of wild boar together with others in Oulens-sous-Echallens VD on Friday afternoon, the Vaud cantonal police announced on Saturday. The hunters had discovered the animals in a place that was overgrown with brambles and inaccessible to the hunters.

According to the report, shortly after 2 p.m., one of the hunters first tried to drive the wild boars out of the area with dogs and then fired shots. Another hunter then shot at a fleeing wild boar.

According to the police, one of the shots hit the waiting 64-year-old man. Rescue workers were only able to determine the man's death at the scene.

It was initially unclear who fired the fatal shot. A total of seven hunters were at the scene, police told the Keystone-SDA news agency.

After the accident, the police questioned two men, aged 67 and 80, in the presence of a lawyer. In their statement, they recalled that hunters are only allowed to shoot if they have precisely identified an animal and are certain that they are not endangering anyone. Furthermore, the law prohibits shooting in order to drive animals from one place to another.

The responsible public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the hunting accident.

SDA