Canberra, Mar 6 (IANS): An Australian man died while trekking back from the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal, authorities said on Monday.

The man, a resident of Melbourne, became ill at the 5,380 metres camp on the night of March 2 before experiencing breathing difficulties while descending the next day, according to local media reports.

The father of two had not attempted to reach the summit and was travelling with three other Australians and local Sherpa guides.

"We stand ready to offer consular assistance," a spokeswoman for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the BBC.

However, the cause of the death remain unclear.

Last May, Melbourne woman Maria Strydom died on Mount Everest after she fell ill near the mountain's peak, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said.

Strydom, a 34-year-old finance lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, had been tired and weak when she died at an altitude of about 7,800 metres near Camp 4.

Since Mount Everest was first climbed in 1953, more than 300 people, most of them Nepali, have died on Everest and Lhotse, which share the same route until Camp 3 at 7,200 metres, according to The Himalayan Database.