A ceremony to commemorate an Australian man who died in an avalanche in Mount Qomolangma earlier this month was held at a temple in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on Tuesday.

Members of staff with the Tibet Windhorse (Longda) International Travel Agency lit butter lamps and offered Buddhist prayers at Jokhang Temple as the funeral of 60-year-old Kenneth Dean Higgins was being held in Australia, a spokesman with the travel company said.

Higgins and three local yak herders were killed in an avalanche along an open route on Mount Qomolangma on Oct. 13. He was on a trip arranged by the travel company, said Yu Yungui, an official with the regional tourism administration.

The hiking route has opened to tourists for years while the best time to travel along the route is in May and October, Yu said.

The avalanche was triggered by a blizzard. Rescuers on Oct. 14 evacuated 86 tourists from a base camp on Mount Qomolangma and a nearby monastery where they had been stranded by heavy snow.

Tibet Windhorse(Longda) International Travel Agency is a legal and licensed company, according to Yu.