A Melbourne woman who was the latest to die climbing to the summit of Mount Everest has been identified as university lecturer Maria Strydom.
Climbers in the Khumbu icefall, Mt Everest, in 2012. Photo: AFP
Another Dutch climber also died of altitude sickness on the mountain two days earlier.
Dr Maria Strydom, who also goes by Marisa, was a finance lecturer at Monash University, and fell ill from altitude sickness while descending from the summit.
Her mother-in-law said Dr Strydom's husband, Rob Gropel, was with her when she died, and he had since been brought down to Camp 2 from where he would travel to Kathmandu.
Dr Strydom was on her way down from Camp 4 to Camp 3 when she became sick, Pasang Phurba Sherpa, a board director at Seven Summit Treks, said.
"After reaching the summit yesterday she said she was feeling very weak and suffering from a loss of energy ... signs of altitude sickness," Sherpa said.
Dr Stydom's mother, Maritha Strydom, confirmed her daughter's death on Facebook, saying she was "too devastated to communicate".
Dr Stydom's sister, Aletta Newman, said the family had been receiving conflicting reports about the death.
She said her family first became aware of her sister's death via an internet search.
"We haven't had anyone from that company talking to myself directly, they haven't called us to inform us of anything," Ms Newman said.
"A number of family members have tried to call around and get information. We've even read in newspapers and online different accounts of what actually had happened."
Dutch mountaineer Eric Arnold, who was in the same climbing party as Dr Strydom, also fell ill from altitude sickness and died on Friday.
The Dutch news agency ANP reported that Mr Arnold had told his teammates after returning from the summit "my body has no energy left".
He apparently died in his sleep.
Mr Arnold was among the climbers caught in a deadly avalanche on Everest base camp last year following a massive earthquake.
About 330 climbers have successfully scaled Mount Everest this season.
However, two other mountaineers have died in the past few days.
A Nepali Sherpa guide perished on Thursday after he slipped and fell 2000m down Mount Lhotse, the world's fourth-highest peak.
On the same day, an Indian climber died after falling ill while descending from Mount Dhaulagiri, also in the Himalayas.
Veteran mountaineer Alan Arnette told RNZ News last week reports that new cut-price Nepali companies are putting inexperienced climbers' lives at risk were true.
He said it was "buyer beware" in the Himalayas until some of the Nepalese sherpas were better trained, five or ten years from now.
"What I have observed over the last two years on Everest in particular is that you've got a lot of Nepali companies that are coming in - they're hiring support staff that in many cases have never been on the mountain before."
- ABC / RNZ