Kathmandu (Reuters): An Australian man died while descending from Mount Everest Base Trekking Camp in the Himalayas, Nepal, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed.
Pardip Karki, manager of the Trekking Agencies´ Association of Nepal said that Australian trekker Matthew Paul Jones, 49, experienced high altitude sickness close to Base Camp and died on Friday.
The trekking manager said that Jones´ post-mortem had been completed and his body would be sent back to Australia once the necessary documentation had been completed with the help of embassy representatives and friends who were trekking with him.
According to spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, they were providing consular assistance to the man´s family.
Jones was from Melbourne and had been an employee with Intel for 16 years. Everest Base Camp is 5,335 m (17,500 ft) above sea level, Australian media reported.
A university lecturer from Melbourne died from altitude sickness on Mount Everest last year.
The climbing season saw a high number of fatalities in 2016 as climbers flocked to the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) summit for the first time after an avalanche, triggered by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, struck Base Camp in 2015.
