• Rescuers have found the body of mountaineer Nirmal Purja and seven other climbers after an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak.
• The expedition led by Purja, which included climbers from Nepal, the US, Oman, China, and Pakistan, lost contact with the base while summiting the 8,047-metre-high mountain.
• Broad Peak, part of the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan, is one of the world's 14 peaks higher than 8,000 metres where mountaineering accidents are common and increasing due to climate change.

Rescuers have found the body of celebrated mountaineer Nirmal Purja as they sift through a massive avalanche that killed all 10 members of an expedition on Pakistan's Broad Peak, officials said on Sunday.

"The ground rescue team has reached Nirmal Purja 'Nims Dai' at approximately 5,700 metres on Broad Peak," Naila Kiani, a spokeswoman for the Alpine Club Pakistan, told dpa.

Kiani said that the bodies of seven climbers have been found so far.

The bodies of three other climbers - Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa "Kilu" - have also been traced, she added.

The bodies are to be brought down amid extremely difficult conditions, the spokeswoman said.

Purja was leading a 10-member expedition including six men from Nepal, one US woman, an Omani female mountaineer, a Chinese national and a Pakistani national when they were sept away by an avalanche and lost contact with the base on Thursday morning while summiting the 8,047-metre-high Broad Peak.

The avalanche hit the expedition when the climbers were above 6,000 metres.

A 10-member ground rescue team, comprising experienced climbers from Pakistan and Nepal, is taking part in the recovery efforts.

Pakistan is home to five of the world's 14 peaks higher than 8,000 metres: K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II.

Broad Peak, the world's 12th tallest, is part of the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan.

Hundreds of climbers attempt to summit it every year along with K2, the world's second-highest peak in the same region.

Mountaineering accidents are common on Pakistani peaks and the frequency is increasing due to climate change, according to climbing experts.