Dutch climber dies after reaching Mt. Kilimanjaro summit

A 53-year-old Dutch man died on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on Friday. The believed cause of death is heart failure, a friend who climbed the highest mountain in Africa with victim Jack Dellepoort, said to BN De Stem.

"We reached the summit on Friday morning at 06:15, after which he suddenly became unwell. There was immediate help from guides and people with oxygen and measuring equipment to measure blood levels and heart rate", the friend said to the newspaper.

A rescue mission was quickly launched to take Delleport down the mountain by car. Twelve hours later, when his friend reached the bottom, he was informed that Delleport did not make it. His body will be flown to the Netherlands on Friday.

Delleport's death shocked his friend. "We traveled together a lot and climbed a lot, in Scotland, base camp Mount Everest. In Europe, in Asia, always with a lot of fun and success", he said to the newspaper.