ISLAMABAD: Renowned Spanish climber Sergio Mingote has died while climbing K2, the world's second-highest peak, officials said on Sunday.

"An army helicopter has reached the base camp to bring back the body of [the] mountaineer," the secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), Karrar Haidri told dpa. The body is being taken to Islamabad.

Mingote was part of the expedition to summit the "savage mountain" during the winter. He fell, around 800 metres, into a crevasse, while coming back to base camp, he said.

The 8,611-metre-high K2, lies in northern Pakistan, near the border with China.

Haidri said the accident took place around the time Nepalese climbers made history with a successful winter attempt of K2's summit.

"Two of the sherpas reached back in the night while others were on their way," Haidri said.

More than 50 mountaineers from around the world are in three international expeditions attempting the ascent this winter.

K2 is deemed a more challenging climb than the world's highest summit, Mount Everest. In August 2008, 11 climbers were killed by an avalanche on K2, one of the worst tragedies in climbing history.

Northern Pakistan is a magnet for mountaineers and is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world, including K2 and Nangaparat, also known as the "killer mountain."

Nestled between the western end of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush mountains and the Karakoram range, the Gilgit-Baltistan region houses 18 of the world's 50 highest peaks.—dpa