A buffalo has killed a man suspected of poaching fish in South Africa's world-famous Kruger National Park, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"There were three guys who went fishing inside the park, and they were attacked by the buffalo," park spokesman William Mabasa told AFP.

Two of them escaped, but the third was killed. The two survivors reported the incident to a nearby village chief, who alerted the police.

"Then the rangers went to the area with the police and indeed they found the person," Mabasa said.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Mohale Ramatseba said the 35-year-old man was trampled to death, according to the Sapa news agency.

Poaching has become a major concern in Kruger, especially for rhinos.

International syndicates have turned the park into a major killing ground, hacking off rhino horns for sale on the Asian traditional medicine market, where they are wrongly believed to have powerful healing properties.

Nearly 450 rhinos were poached in South Africa last year, more than half of them in Kruger.