Father Gianfranco Pinto Ostuni, director of the press office of the general curia of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor in Rome, reported the death to MISNA missionary agency.
At around 3:00 local time, Father Manus Patrick Campbell from Belfast, Ireland, and member of the Franciscan province of «Our Lady of Peace,» was taken by surprise in his sleep by thieves breaking into the parish Church of Amanzimtoti, about 18 miles from Durban. His body was discovered this morning by a missionary of the parish church. According to the first sketchy information, Father Campbell was strangled to death.