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Hunter shoots son dead after mistaking him for moose

'The young man died on the spot from the injury,' authorities say

Tom Embury-Dennis
Thursday 10 January 2019 05:04 EST
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A father wrongly thought he was shooting a moose
A father wrongly thought he was shooting a moose (Getty)

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A hunter shot dead his teenage son after mistaking him for a moose, authorities in Russia have said.

The federal investigation department said the “tragic incident” occurred last week during a hunt in the Nefteyugansk region of western Siberia, 2,000 miles east of Moscow.

“In conditions of insufficient visibility, the hunter fired a gun into a moving object, mistakenly believing that it was a moose,” investigators said in a round-up of cases opened over the festive holidays.

“Coming closer, the hunter saw that he [had] mortally wounded his 18-year-old son. The young man died on the spot from the injury,” it continued.

The father was charged with causing death by negligence, which carries a prison sentence of up to two years.

Neither the victim nor the suspect have been identified.

It comes months after an elk leaped into a research helicopter in Utah, US, killing itself and injuring two people on board.

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