A Wildlife and Parks Assistant on Wednesday shot dead an armed poacher in the Liwonde National Park managed by African Parks of South Africa.
The poacher, who had a muzzle loader, was shot as he was challenging the Parks and Wildlife Assistant armed with an AK47 who was patrolling the protected national park.
Machinga Police Public Relations Officer, Constable Davie Sulumba confirmed the shooting, calling it an accidental killing.
Sulumba said Enock Damiano,28, was shot after confronting Kwane Mvula as he was patrolling the park.
Damiano was armed with a muzzle loader and was with three others at the time of the shooting, according to Sulumba.
He said Damiano pointed his muzzle loader at Mvula after the three alleged poacher s realized that they had been spotted in the wrong place.
Mvula shot in the air to scare Damiano and two others but Damiano continued to point his gun at loader at Mvula, Sulumba added.
He fired another bullet that landed on Damiano’s belly and he died on the spot prompting the two others to flee with unknown items.
Postmortem at Machinga District Hospital show that Damiano died due to loss of blood, according to Machinga Police.
Meanwhile, the police are investigating the matter and looking for the two who are still at large.
Damiano came from Ntamila village, Traditional Authority Nsanama in Machinga while Mvula comes from Enkundileni village, Traditional Authority Mtwalo in Mzimba.
