Search begins after Roger Gower died when his helicopter was shot down over the Maswa game reserve on Friday

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Authorities in Tanzania have launched a search after poachers shot down a helicopter and its British pilot during an operation to track down elephant killers, officials have said.

British pilot Roger Gower was tracking poachers on Friday in the Maswa game reserve when he died after his helicopter crashed after being hit by an AK-47 rifle fired from the ground, Tanzania’s tourism and natural resources minister, Jumanne Maghembe, said.

The mission had been a collaboration between the Friedkin Conservation Fund and the Tanzanian government, which has struggled to respond to what conservation groups say has been an explosion of “industrial-scale” poaching in recent years.

“The government has launched a manhunt to find those responsible for this attack,” Maghembe told reporters.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The elephant population in Tanzania has fallen from 110,000 in 2009 to little more than 43,000 in 2014. Photograph: Rachel Harris/PA

Dan Friedkin, the chairman of the Friedkin Conservation Fund, said Gower had been engaged in a coordinated effort with Tanzanian wildlife authorities to track down elephant poachers when his helicopter was shot down.

“This tragic event again highlights the appalling risk and cost of protecting Tanzania’s wildlife,” Friedkin said in a statement.

A census in June found that the elephant population in Tanzania, which depends heavily on its safari tourism industry, had declined from 110,000 in 2009 to little more than 43,000 in 2014.

Demand for ivory from fast-growing Asian economies such as China and Vietnam, where it is turned into jewels and ornaments, has led to a rise in poaching across sub-Saharan Africa.

Tanzanian authorities said they had made progress over the past few months in their crackdown on illegal poaching. Last October, charges were brought against a prominent Chinese businesswoman, Yang Feng Glan, 66, dubbed the “Ivory Queen” for running a network that smuggled out tusks from 350 elephants.

Maghembe’s deputy at the ministry, Ramo Makani, told Reuters five suspects had been arrested since Gower’s death and that the operation was still under way for the remaining suspects.

He also said a second person who was travelling in the helicopter had survived the crash and was being treated for minor injuries and shock.