Condition of shot priest improves

Version 0 of 1.

The condition of a Belfast missionary priest shot in South Africa has improved, his family has said.

Father Kieran Creagh was attacked and shot twice by robbers at the hospice he founded to help Aids sufferers in Johannesburg.

He underwent surgery to remove a bullet from his lung on Friday morning. His family, who are at his bedside, said that he had a comfortable night.

They said they have been inundated with calls of support from around the world.

Police told the Associated Press the robbers, who have not been caught, escaped with money from the hospice safe and the priest's mobile phone.

The priest, who was the first person in Africa to be injected with a trial HIV vaccine, was made Irish International Personality of the Year in 2004.

He received the award after volunteering to try out the vaccine, despite being free from the virus himself.

He has worked with Aids patients in the country for a decade and opened the Leratong hospice in 2004.