Kathmandu, May 9, (dpa/GNA) – A local mountain guide in the Nepalese Himalayas has died following a climb, the first death on an 8,000 metre peak during this year’s high season for mountain climbing.

The 53-year-old guide reached the summit of Mount Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest mountain, with a group of foreign climbers and fellow Nepalese guides but began suffering health problems, a spokesman for the tourism authority in the capital Kathmandu told dpa.

His colleagues tried to carry him down but he died during the descent, the spokesman said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.

The tourism authority had issued a total of 59 foreign mountaineers with paid permits to climb Mount Makalu during the spring climbing season.

GNA