Nepal’s Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world at 8850 metres. Picture: iStock

The beloved Melbourne father died last week after falling ill near the Mount Everest base camp in Nepal during a Sherpa-led trek.

The Nepal base camp, at an altitude of about 5360 metres, is a popular destination for trekkers to acclimatise before tackling Mount Everest, but Mr Jones reportedly did not intend to go higher.

After experiencing shortness of breath on Thursday, the respected Intel employee stayed behind in his hotel room where he died, most likely from altitude sickness, according to local police.

“He was having problems due to the altitude, that’s why he didn’t go on,” a spokesman from Eastern Region Police in Nepal told AAP.

“Early in the morning he was found dead in his room.”

No further information has been released about Mr Jones or his experience on the trek, but the apparent link to altitude sickness has cast the condition in a scary new light.

Melbourne man Matthew Jones, who died while climbing Mt Everest. Picture: LinkedInSource:Supplied

“Severe altitude sickness can kill you,” veteran mountaineer Andrew Lock told the ABC on Monday.

“If you go to high altitude — and Everest Base Camp is 5300 metres — that’s more than enough to kill you if you go up too quickly.”

Altitude sickness generally happens when there is difficulty adjusting to lower oxygen pressure at high altitudes. It can affect all climbers, regardless of age or fitness level, and while most people recover, it can be fatal.

Melbourne woman Maria Strydom died in May last year after falling ill at the peak of Mount Everest.

Dr Strydom, a 34-year-old Monash University lecturer, had felt tired and weak when she died at an altitude of about 7800. A Dutch climber in her group also died from altitude sickness after he reached the summit.

‘IT DOESN’T DISCRIMINATE’

Shortness of breath, which Matthew Jones reportedly experienced, is a major symptom of altitude sickness along with headache, nausea and dizziness, travel expert Phil Sylvester of Travel Insurance Direct told news.com.au.

“The shortness of breath is starving your brain of oxygen and your muscles are not getting enough either, so you’re lethargic and weak,” he said.

Altitude sickness can affect all climbers, regardless of their age or fitness level. Picture: iStockSource:Supplied

“The danger is the low air pressure which can allow fluid to leak from the capillaries in the lungs and the brain — pulmonary edema or cerebral edema, which is obviously not good, and potentially fatal if untreated.”

In mild cases, climbers can go back down to a lower altitude where increased air pressure and a higher concentration of oxygen reverses the symptoms, Mr Sylvester said. Doctors may prescribe medication to treat symptoms in mild cases.

Mr Sylvester, who has experienced the condition, said altitude sickness insurance claims were common but rarely fatal.

“We get claims from Nepal in trekking seasons, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Cuzco in Peru — where I got it — and even the Atlas Mountains in Morocco,” he said.

“Symptoms can last from a few hours, like me — sick in the morning, eating an alpaca burger by dinner time — to around four days or however long it takes to acclimatise.

At the South Base Camp in Nepal.Source:Supplied

“If the condition persists or is acute the only — and sensible — thing to do is get to a lower altitude and recover.”

Mr Sylvester said climbers who got sick from altitude sickness would be covered by insurance, whether for a doctor’s bill to prescribe Diamox, a medication to treat symptoms, or helicopter evacuation.

But he warned it was a condition that all climbers should prepare for.

“Sadly it doesn’t discriminate,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, fit or flabby, male or female.

“Having suffered it once before doesn’t mean you will the next time — and vice versa, because you haven’t had it before it doesn’t mean you won’t this time.”

Travellers are advised to get a thorough medical check before climbing Mount Everest.