A German tourist has been brutally shot dead in an attempted car-jacking in South Africa's Kruger National Reserve.
Retired Human Resources director Joerg Schnarr, 67, who worked for a church organisation, was killed in cold blood but his wife Vera and close friends Reiner and Andrea Nuchter survived.
The four friends from the city of Fulda in central Germany had landed earlier yesterday at Johannesburg and were driving to their lodge in the game reserve.
A £2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers has been put up by the local tourikrugerst board who described the shooting as a "sabotage" of the industry.
It is believed the Nuchter's ran their own restaurant and had decided to join the Schnarr's on a luxury tented holiday at the Mdluli Lodge to view African wildlife.
However they were just a few hours into their journey to the Kruger National Park and 25 miles from the safety of the main gate when their car was ambushed.
Three gunmen swerved in front of his people carrier as he drove from the airport in Johannesburg for a safari in the Kruger National Park with his wife and friends.
When the 67-year-old driver refused to open the doors and started to reverse the gunman opened fire and shot the pensioner at point blank range killing him.
The out-of-control car careered backwards 100 metres and slammed into a school wall in the farming village of White Water in Mpumalanga Province yesterday.
Paramedics and police raced to the scene and found the blood-soaked driver was still slumped behind the wheel and is believed to have died almost instantly.
The four names were released by the Mpumulanga Tourism and Parks Agency after consulation with the survivors who are being offered full trauma counselling.
South African Police have launched a massive manhunt for the three strong gang who fled empty handed yesterday after the driver reversed away from their trap.
A first responder said: ”It was a really bad gunshot wound and due to the amount of blood we could not tell initially how many shots it was but he was beyond help.
“The guy’s wife and the other couple were as you can imagine hysterical.One minute they were nearly into the Kruger on a dream holiday and the next minute this.”
The German tourists had booked into two £289-each-per-night luxury tents in the exclusive accommodation that overlooks the Kruger National Park for exceptional game viewing.
Each day 4 x 4 safari jeeps take out guests to enjoy the wildlife including the Big 5 of elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino in South Africa’s biggest nature reserve.
Police spokesman Brigadier Selvy Mohala said yesterday: ”Four German tourists were stopped by three armed suspects who ordered them to open the doors on the way to the Kruger.
“The driver reportedly locked all the doors and one of the suspects shot him in the upper body through the window as the driver reversed and sadly the shot was fatal.
“The vehicle reversed about 100 metres and crashed into a school wall and the suspects sped off in their car without taking anything from them and we will track them down."
Mpumalanga Police Provincial Commander Lieutenant General Semakeleng Manamela condemned the cowardly attack which will rock the slowly recovering tourist industry.
She said: ”This attack on a group of tourists was cruel and uncalled for especially given the economic challenges which our country now faces.
“When one has tourists then it is the tourist sector that is benefitting in a way which gives a boost to our struggling economy which it needs.
“We call on our citizens who might have seen or heard or have information about these criminals to come forward so we can bring swift justice.”
Last month celebrity model Katie Price, 44, recalled how her convoy of two 4 x 4’s were ambushed as they drove away from Johannesburg by 6 armed gunmen in 2018.
She revealed that despite being in the vehicle with her two terrified children she was dragged out and raped while their vehicles were being robbed by the gang.
The mother of seven was with a film crew and was travelling from South Africa to Swaziland whilst making a fly-on-the-wall documentary on her "crazy" celebrity lifestyle.
The former glamour model said she feared for her life in the attack just outside the town of Ermelo after her convoy stopped in a remote layby after darkness fell.
One of her children needed a comfort stop and that is when the gang struck as they pulled over and leaped out of the car according to Katie aiming guns and threatening to kill.
After the gang had robbed them of jewellery, cash, phones and computers they threw both sets of car keys into the undergrowth and fled into the night in a getaway car.
Police closed the case several months later without finding the gang and it was only for the first time for a yet-to-be-aired TV documentary that Katie revealed she was raped.
In 2020 German restauranteur Eduard Neumeister, 67, was hacked to death at his eatery in South Africa as he opened up for breakfast.
He died in a hail of blows at the Bratwurst Sausage Restaurant in Balgowan, 70 miles north of Durban which he ran with his partner Margit Riebler, 62.
South Africa is said to be one of the most dangerous places in the world with 67 murders a day and 115 reported rapes but tourist murders are rare.
