WELLINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, is in a New Zealand hospital but recovering, his family said on Tuesday.

The 87-year-old mountaineer was admitted to Auckland hospital last Sunday after returning from Nepal, his wife said in a statement issued through the hospital.

"He is in a comfortable condition and improves daily," Lady Hillary said in the statement.

The statement did not comment on what was wrong with Hillary. It would not confirm a local media report that he had had a fall.

Hillary, who climbed the 8,850-metre (29,035 feet) mountain -- the world's highest -- in 1953 with Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay, has remained active despite his age.

Earlier this month, he was in Nepal visiting projects supported by his Himalayan Trust, and in January he visited Antarctica for the 50th anniversary of New Zealand's Scott Base scientific station, which he helped to establish.

AlertNet news is provided by