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ISLAMABAD — The Canadian leader of an international mountaineering expedition has fallen to his death on the country’s K2 mountain, often considered the world’s most difficult to climb, according to a Pakistan official.

Serge Dessureault died early Saturday while attempting to scale the 8,611-meter mountain in northern Pakistan, according to Karrar Haidri, secretary of Alpine Club of Pakistan.

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Haidri said it wasn’t immediately clear how Dessureault fell.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

Dessureault, 53, had been a captain with Montreal’s fire department, according to a spokesman for the city’s firefighters’ association.

He was leading the nine-member “K2-Broad Peak” expedition up the mountain, which is extremely steep and attracts notoriously bad weather.

Haidri said Dessureault’s body was brought to the mountain’s advance base camp and would be transported to Islamabad.

A Facebook page following the climb of Dessureault and two other climbers said Dessureault “took a fall near camp 2 at 6,700 metres” early Saturday.

“It is with an indescribable sadness that we announce Serge’s death this morning,” read the message on the page Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beausejour et Nathalie Fortin au K2.

The post said Dessureault’s body had been recoved and his family and friends had been informed.

Last week, Austrian climber Christian Huber was killed at Ultar Sar Peak when his tent was hit by an avalanche.

With files by The Associated Press.