Man killed as country-made gun goes off

A 37-year-old man was killed when a country-made gun went off while his friend was loading, police said on Tuesday.

Ayyasami, a professional tree-cutter, along with six others, had gone to the forest area near here on Monday for hunting with the single-barrel gun, the police said.

One of his friends accidentally pulled the trigger while loading the gun and the bullet hit Ayyasami, killing him on the spot, they said.

The group decided to bury the body in the village in the night but some villagers alerted the police, who rushed to the spot and arrested two people.

Search is on for the others. The gun, hidden in a bush, was recovered, the police said.