Luanda - Two actors were shot dead and another three were wounded while filming a crime drama in the Angolan capital Luanda on Monday when police mistook them for armed robbers, their director said.
According to Radical Ribeiro, a director for the Banda Mulundi production company, the tragedy happened as a crowd of onlookers were watching a scene being filmed in the crime-ridden suburb of Sambila.
"We saw the (police) pick-up speeding towards us. It looked empty but then suddenly it stopped and people appeared on the back and without asking any questions they started shooting at everybody at close range," a stunned Ribeiro told reporters.
"I don't know how I escaped, I was just two metres away," Ribeiro added.
The director said the actors were carrying firearms but without any ammunition.
"I was stunned when I saw them falling down. They went on shooting until I shouted out: 'Please don't shoot, this is a movie'."
They then ceased their firing and promptly fled the scene without attending to the wounded, who were taken to a nearby hospital, said Ribeiro.
Ribiero said that he had informed the local police about the filming before they began but the marksmen appeared to belong to an elite unit.
No one from the police was immediately available for comment.