Everest conqueror Hillary dies: New Zealand PM

Edmund Hillary, the unassuming New Zealander who won world fame as the first man to climb Mount Everest, died Friday at the age of 88, Prime Minister Helen Clark said.

Hillary, who with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of the world's highest mountain on May 29 1953, had been in increasingly frail health in recent years.

"Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus," Clark was quoted by AFP as saying in a statement.