Spanish mountain climber Sergi Mingote died while climbing the world’s second-highest summit, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday.
Mingote was climbing K2, part of the Karakoram Range that straddles the border of China and Pakistan, CNN reported. The peak, which rises 28,251 feet above sea level, is nicknamed “Savage Mountain” and is topped only by Mount Everest, which rises to 29,032 feet.
“Sad death of Sergi Mingote at K2,” Sanchez tweeted. “He wanted to continue making history by being part of the first expedition to crown this mountain in the middle of winter and a tragic accident has ended his life. A big hug for the loved ones of this great athlete.”
A post on Mingote’s official Instagram account said: “Rest in peace Sergi. Today you start a new climb.”
On Friday, Mingote shared an Instagram post announcing that he was on day 27 of his climb and had reached 7,000 meters.
Chhang Dawa Sherpa, a Nepalese mountaineer who is leading the K2 winter expedition, wrote on Instagram that Mingote “suddenly fell down.”
“We (were) informed by unexpected movement on his GPS tracker and could see he made a big fall, members at the site quickly confirmed the accident, but couldn’t do much to help him anymore,” Sherpa said.
K2 is famous for its difficulty. Its summit was first reached in 1954, CNN reported. While more than 4,000 people have reached the summit of Mount Everest, only 350 people have reached K2′s summit, the network reported. At least 77 people have died attempting to climb the mountain, according to CNN.
Ten climbers from Nepal reached the summit on Saturday, according to Nirmal Purja, who posted a photo on Instagram.
Cox Media Group
