A 52-year-old Indian mountaineer died in Nepal near the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest peak, the organisers of the expedition said on Friday.

Narayanan Iyer, who is from Maharastra, breathed his last at an altitude of 8,200 metres on Thursday.

"He was slower than others and we had two guides assist him. He was very exhausted, couldn't continue and collapsed," Nivesh Karki of expedition company Pioneer Adventure told AFP.

Karki said that Iyer's family had been informed and work is on to recover his body.

Iyer is the third climber to die in Nepal this year. Last month, a Greek mountaineer died on the 8,167-metre Dhaulagiri after he fell ill while descending.

A few days later, a Nepali sherpa who was carrying equipment uphill as part of a mountaineering team was found dead on Mount Everest.

Nepalese authorities have issued 68 permits to foreign climbers for the 8,586-metre Kanchenjunga this season.

The country only reopened its peaks to mountaineers last year after closing all mountaineering activities due to the pandemic in 2020.

Nepal's government has already issued permits to 918 mountaineers for the season out of which 316 are for Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.