Petar Bozhilov, Executive Director of the state-owned National Sport Base EAD, has been shot during a hunt.

Another man aged 71 also died during the hunt.

Bozhilov, 49, who was in charge of some of the biggest sports facilities in Bulgaria, died on the spot after a shooting at around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday in the region of Elata, 5 kilometers away of the western village of Plana.

The two men had a quarrel before the fatal shooting.

"They pulled out their weapons on each other and shot," locals told 24 Hours daily.

According to reports of Bulgaria's Interior Ministry, one of the men used a shotgun and the other one a pistol.

Bozhilov, a former rower, was appointed Executive Director of National Sport Base EAD by Sports Minister Svilen Neykov in November 2009.

He managed sports facilities like the Vasil Levski National Stadium, the Diana National Sport Complex, the Arena Armeets sports hall, the Belmeken sports complex, the Sport Palace sport complex in Varna, etc.

According to Valery Yordanov, head of the Sofia Police Directorate, as cited by the Bulgarian National Television (BNT), both victims of the incident were killed with legally owned weapons.

The 71-year old man was not a member of the hunting party.

He first got into an argument with one of the hunters, insisting that no hunting was supposed to take place on the site.

After that he headed in the direction of Bozhilov and the shooting followed.

The men most probably shot each other down.

In Yordanov's words, there was no reason for the fight because the hunt had been permitted by the authorities.