Malli Mastan Babu, an Indian mountaineer who won fame as the first South Asian to scale the highest peak on each of the seven continents, and who had been missing in the Andes since late March, was found dead on April 3. He was 40.

India’s external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, announced on Sunday that Mr. Babu’s body had been found in the border region between Argentina and Chile. With the body was a bag containing a copy of a Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, and an Indian flag.

Mr. Babu was known as one of the world’s fastest summiteers. In just 172 days, from Jan. 19 to July 10, 2006, he climbed the world’s tallest peaks on seven continents: Aconcagua in South America, McKinley in North America, Elbrus in Europe, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Kosciuszko in Australia, Everest in Asia and Vinson Massif in Antarctica.

In 2008, he trekked from Everest to Kanchenjunga, covering nearly 680 miles of the world’s highest terrain in 75 days. As was the case with most of his adventures, he did it alone.