A LEIGH man has been shot dead in Central America by a gang who stole his camera, it was reported.

The man, named locally as tourist Omer Kaya, 33,  and said to be from Leigh, was killed at 11am yesterday in the city of San Pedro Sula, in north west Honduras, the El Heraldo newspaper said.

He was reportedly taking photographs in colonial Trejo, an area in the west of the city, when he was attacked by several men who stole his camera.

Witnesses told police he was shot dead as he ran away, El Heraldo said.

Police and a forensic medical team were called to the scene and the man's body was taken to a judicial morgue for a post-mortem examination.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are aware of reports and are looking into them."

Violent crime is rife in Honduras. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the country has seen murder rates double between 2005 and 2010 to the highest murder rate in the world - 82.1 per 100,000 people in 2010.