A Japanese woman has died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest, her tour guide company said Friday.
Shoko Ota, 63, had reached the summit with two fellow climbers Thursday, Tokyo-based Adventure Guides Co. said in a statement.
But Ota lost the ability to move before losing consciousness during their descent, about 350 meters from the summit of the 8,850-meter mountain.
Team leader Kenji Kondo later confirmed Ota's breathing and pulse had stopped.
Kondo, 41, who also serves as president of Adventure Guides, reported the death by satellite phone to the company's Tokyo office. The other climber is Kazuo Takahashi, 47, from Tokyo.
The company told Ota's relatives in Japan around 8 p.m. Thursday that her heart had stopped even after attempts were made to give her oxygen. The family received a call early Friday confirming that she had died.
The other members of the group were reportedly in good health and have reached a camp part of the way down the mountain, the company said. Ota's body remains near the summit.
Ota, an internist from Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, started climbing mountains in her 40s. She had previously climbed Mount Cho-Oyu, an 8,201-meter Himalayan peak, with Adventure Guides in October 2002.
The tour was Adventure Guides' first to Everest.
A total of six climbers and two Sherpas took part in the Everest climb. The tour was open to the public.
The first group comprising Ota and two others reached the summit around 2 p.m. Thursday -- Japan time.