An 85-year-old Nepali who was attempting to scale Mount Everest to regain his title as the oldest person to climb the world's highest peak has died.

Min Bahadur Sherchan, from Aldershot, died at the base camp on Saturday evening, officials said.

The cause of death is not immediately clear.

The grandfather of 17 and great-grandfather of six first scaled Everest in May 2008, when he was 76, and at the time declared the oldest climber.

His record was broken by then 80-year-old Japanese climber Yuichiro Miura in 2013.

The cause of Mr Sherchan's death was most likely cardiac arrest, said a mountaineering official at the base camp.

He had trained for months before the attempt and said he did not suffer from any respiratory problems and blood pressure was normal.

He did not have problems with high altitude and the low level of oxygen in the mountains because he was born there.

Mr Sherchan had said he intended to travel to conflict areas to spread a message of peace once he completed the Everest climb.

His love of mountaineering began in 1960 when he was assigned by the Nepalese government as a liaison officer for the Swiss team climbing Mount Dhaulagiri.

He later became an apple farmer and constructed roads and dams before settling down to run hotels in Kathmandu.