The following correction was printed on Wednesday March 28 2007

In the article below we mistakenly described the elephant as being in "musk". We should have said it was in "musth". This has been corrected.

Two British tourists have died and one was injured after an elephant charged them in western Zimbabwe, the British embassy in Harare said last night.

Zimbabwean authorities said the dead were a mother and daughter on a walking holiday in the Hwange National Park. The injured man was the husband and father of the victims. The tourists have not be named.

The family is said to have been on a game viewing trip, accompanied by a guide and a professional hunter. The authorities said they were attacked by a bull elephant that was exceptionally aggressive because it was in musth. The guide fired a shot at the animal, but missed.

Police in Bulawayo and wildlife authorities said investigations were under way to see whether the guide had been negligent, though guides are often taken by surprise at the speed of such attacks.

Last year, Gianpaolo Tarabini, husband of the Italian fashion designer Anna Molinari, was killed in an elephant attack in Zimbabwe.

Elephants are the second most dangerous animal for humans in Zimbabwe, after crocodiles, and tour guides in the country's national parks commonly carry weapons to protect tourists from elephants, hippos and crocodiles.

According to official figures, 12 people were trampled to death by elephants in 2005 - including villagers trying to protect their crops.

Park officials confirmed that two tourists had died. Provincial warden Tawanda Gotosa said that although tour guides carried weapons to protect tourists, the incident could have happened so fast that the guide could not take action.

"It is possible that the elephant could have charged so fast and suddenly that there was no chance for the guide to react," he told Zimbabwe's Herald newspaper.

"We are investigating to see if there was an act of negligence on the part of the tour guides," Edmore Veterai, a senior assistant police commissioner in Matabeleland North Province, told the newspaper.

Conservation groups say the elephant population in Hwange park has soared in the absence of regular culling measures to control the population.

John Gillon, chairman of the Hwange Conservation Society, a British charity which raises money in support of the park, said: "It's pretty much accepted that the population of elephants in Hwange is too big for the park. There are about 30,000 elephants, though the park is not fenced so they wander back and forth between Botswana and Zimbabwe.

"For some time, the park has wanted to cull elephants, although they realise there would be an outcry. The park can sustain somewhere round about 18,000."

Although the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has not called for a boycott, tourism in Zimbabwe has declined as the country's economic crisis and political violence have worsened.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that two Britons had died. Their families had requested confidentiality, she said.

"Two British tourists have been killed in Zimbabwe on a safari holiday. Their families are receiving appropriate consular assistance. The third person involved has not been hospitalised. Any injuries they may have are minor."