Four-year-old accidentally shoots father with hunting rifle in France

A four-year old in France has accidentally fired a hunting rifle at his father, causing a serious foot injury, a police source told AFP on Monday.

The accident occurred in Cournon d'Auvergne, a town in central France, on Sunday.

The young boy was in a car with his father during a hunting session when they stopped to talk with friends who were also out hunting, the police source said.

"The child fired one of the hunters' rifles and injured his father in the foot," the police source said, adding that the exact circumstances of the accident were still not clear.

Police, however, had already established that "not all safety rules were met".

Dominique Busson, president of the local hunters' association, said that the hunters should have unloaded their rifles before gathering, but failed to do so.

The father's foot had to be amputated, Busson said.

The boy was taken to a psychiatric ward for counselling, while a police investigation was to determine "how a four-year old child found himself handling a loaded hunting rifle", the police source said.