Australian climber dies while returning from Everest summit

An Australian man has died while returning from the Mount Everest summit.

Jason Bernard, 40, died on Friday, reports Guardian. 

He was part of an expedition run by Asian Trekking, whose managing director, Dawa Steven Sherpa, told the Himalayan Times that Kennison had started showing abnormal behaviour from the south summit.

Two Sherpa guides helped him reach a balcony area 8,400 metres above sea level. At this point, Kennison refused to move.

Oxygen levels were depleting in the cylinders that the Sherpas had, so they decided to leave Kennison there and descended to Camp 4 to restock.

However, because of strong winds, the Sherpas were unable to get back to rescue Kennison, who collapsed and died in the balcony area.

Kennison survived a car crash 17 years ago and was told he might never walk again.

'He was using his ascent to raise money for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia.

On his fundraising page, Kennison said he would attempt to climb Mount Everest Base Camp ''and hope to continue to higher camps of the mountain'' from there.