A 53-year-old man climbing a fruit tree in a village in Kedah had a narrow escape when he was shot and wounded by a friend who mistook him for a monkey, a report said today.

Yahya Ahmad was putting protective coverings on jackfruits in an orchard owned by his friend, Bernama quoted police as saying.

"The suspect was tracking a monkey which he said had been causing damage to his fruit trees that morning and saw the branches of the jackfruit tree shaking. He shot at the spot and hit Yahya instead," an officer said.

Yahya, who taps rubber for a living, escaped serious injury because the shotguns pellets that blasted his body and leg did not penetrate deeply, he said.
The incident occurred after a shooting tragedy in eastern Pahang state over the weekend, when a man hunting wild boar shot his friend by accident, and then turned the gun on himself, police said.