US vice-president Dick Cheney has come clean over the incident in which he shot a 78-year-old lawyer in the chest.

Mr Cheney, an experienced hunter, was part of a shooting party last weekend when he hit Harry Whittington with around 200 pellets as he aimed at quail.

Mr Whittington was admitted to hospital and had to be rushed back into intensive care when he suffered a heart attack after a shotgun pellet which had lodged in his chest travelled to his heart.

News of the shooting only came out on Sunday as neither the White House nor Mr Cheney's staff disclosed it.

Despite being the butt of countless jokes on US television before the setback for Mr Whittington emerged, the vice-president failed to say anything publicly about the accident.

He has now given an interview to a US network saying it was "one of the worst days of my life," but rejected criticism that he waited too long to make it public amid mounting furore that the incident was not disclosed sooner to the media.