La GRANDE, Ore. (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest once based in La Grande and Klamath Falls has died from injuries suffered in a traffic accident in Tanzania.

Father Pirmin Ngolle, who was 41, died at a mission hospital during surgery on Saturday. A memorial service is planned for noon Thursday at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in La Grande.

In recent years he helped raise a half-million dollars for clean water projects for about 95-thousand people in 15 villages in Tanzania.

In la Grande he initially began raising funds to build a church in Tanzania but changed his focus when he visited there and officiated at the funerals of four children who died from drinking contaminated water.