A BASINGSTOKE man is lucky to be alive after he was shot as he walked through a Basingstoke park with his girlfriend at the weekend.

The 27-year-old victim was yesterday in a high-dependency unit at Basingstoke hospital, suffering from a punctured lung and internal bleeding.

Police have yet to establish whether the man was shot with a gun or an airweapon because of difficulties in getting the bullet out of his body.

"It very easily could have killed him," said Detective Constable Martyn Lillywhite, of Basingstoke police. "There's no suggestion this is anything other than a random shooting.

"We're not saying a maniac is on the loose. We don't know if this person intended to shoot at someone. But that person was not out there to shoot anything else that time of the morning and couldn't see anything because it was so foggy, so the question is what was he doing?"

The incident occurred as the man was walking through Basingstoke's War Memorial Park by the subway at about 1.30am on Saturday with his 31-year-old girlfriend, following a work Christmas party.

The man felt something hit him in the back and heard a sound similar to a rifle.

The round went through his thick jacket and clothing, pierced his skin, hit his lung and lodged itself in his body, also possibly fracturing his rib.

Basingstoke police are looking to identify anyone who may have been in the park at the time of the shooting or anyone who may have seen someone shooting air weapons in the park recently.

They are particularly keen to trace a person in the park, who walked by the victim after he had been shot, and a second person who ran up to the girlfriend and had a brief conversation with her, before running off into the park saying he was going to look for the shooter.

This person is described as a white male, about 5ft 8ins tall, of medium build and with short dark hair. He was wearing a waist-length jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det Con Lillywhite on 01256 405017, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. All calls can be treated anonymously and confidentially.