Reggae musician Lucky Dube was shot dead in a hijacking yesterday in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, South Africa, police say.

The report of the singer's death was published yesterday by the Independent online, an Internet-based news site.

Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht, who reported on the incident, told the news site that the incident took place around 8.20 p.m. when Dube was driving a blue Polo in the Johannesburg suburb.

She said Dube was dropping off his son in the area when he was attacked.

"His son was already out of the car. When he saw what was happening, he ran to ask for help."

The hijackers were still at large.

The boy was too traumatised to provide police with any information, Engelbrecht said.

Dube was a headline performer at the Cricket World Cup opening ceremony at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in March.

Symbolic handing over

His performance was a symbolic handing over of the torch from South Africa, which had hosted the previous Cricket World Cup, to the Caribbean, which was hosting its first.

Dube, who was born in Johannesburg on August 3, 1964, was named 'Lucky' as he was born in poor health and doctors thought he would die, according to Wikipedia.

But Dube survived and went on to become a front-line artist in the reggae genre.

He recorded more than 20 albums in his music career, which spanned more than 20 years, according to Luckydubemusic.com. His albums include Rastas Never Die, Think about the Children, Soul Taker and Trinity. His latest, released in 2006, is called Respect.