Mormon missionary serving in Samoa fatally struck by vehicle

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Authorities say a Mormon missionary serving in Samoa is dead after being struck by a vehicle.

A spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City says 21-year-old Aaron Ahkau Matapa Patiole was walking with a companion in Upolu when he was fatally struck Sunday.

Patiole was a native of Australia and had been serving in the Samoa Apia Mission since last December 2016.

Samoa is a Pacific Islands nation of about 200,000 that has nearly 80,000 Mormons.