Melbourne woman Maria Strydom dies on Mount Everest

Efforts are underway to recover the body of a Melbourne university lecturer who died on Mount Everest.

Maria Strydom, 34, died of altitude sickness on the world’s highest mountain on Saturday.

Dr Strydom and her husband Robert Gropel were determined to climb the highest mountains on each continent.

Her family says the couple’s GPS tracker stopped working on Friday.

Efforts are now underway to retrieve her sister’s body, but from an elevation of 8000 metres, it will be very difficult.