He passed away in his tent in the early hours of this morning.

An Irish man has died during a Mount Everest expedition. Kevin Hynes successfully reached the mountain's summit earlier this week and had begun his descent when he tragically passed away. The 56-year-old Galway man had been part of a group attempting the climb with company, 360 Expeditions. They released a statement confirming father of two's passing today. "It is with the greatest sadness that we have to confirm that one of our Everest team has passed away," they wrote on Facebook this afternoon. "Kevin (56 yrs) was one of the strongest and most experienced climbers on our team, and had previously summited Everest South and Lhotse. "On the 22nd May Kevin reached Camp 3 at 8,300m. On the 23rd May, while our summit climbers were heading higher, Kevin started his descent. He was accompanied by experienced Sherpa, Dawa Sangee, who himself has summited Everest south twice, Everest North and Makalu twice." The statement confirmed that Hynes passed away in his tent in the early hours of the morning of May 24, Nepali time. The group said that they had "no inkling" as to what happened. They said that they had texted Hynes yesterday but that he had failed to replied to their messages. They went on:

"His wonderful wife, Bernadette and two children, Erin and James are comforted by all the communication that Kevin sent out from his expedition, letting them know that, "quote" "this was proving the most fun he had had on any one of his expeditions and the team was amazing and that he was loving being with Rolfe. "We thank everyone for your understanding and respect in the light of this tragic event. Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences are with all Kevin’s family and his friends. He really was a wonderful man and it was a great privilege to have him on our team."

This comes after Wicklow man Seamus Lawless was reported missing after falling from the mountain last week. A search operation is currently in progress.