An employee at an environmental monitoring station in Central China's Hunan province has died after being shot with an air gun in a freak accident, thepaper.cn reported.

The victim, identified as Xie, 40, was killed in her office in Shaoyang city around 9 am on Friday.

According to her brother, she was struck by a pellet that was fired accidentally while two colleagues were playing with an air gun.

Two suspects, surnamed Wang and Yi, are in police custody while another man, surnamed Li, has been placed in administrative detention for illegal possession of a firearm, Shaoyang police said on Sina Weibo.

Xie, who had a 17-year-old son, worked for the environmental protection bureau in Shaoyang county, which is part of the city. Her brother told thepaper.cn she had not been involved in any conflicts at work.

Shaoyang police said they are treating the incident as a wrongful death.