As many as seven climbers were feared dead last night after an ice fall on the world’s second-highest mountain.

At least a further five were believed to be spending the night stranded 26,000ft up K2, close to a cliff face above the avalanche, their ropes swept away below them.

With climbers straggling in off the mountain to their camps yesterday evening, the scale of the feared disaster became apparent. One body was found late last night.

Rescue attempts were hurriedly being put in place, with progress today crucial to the chances of survival of the missing. They include Gerard McDonnell, who last Friday became the first Irishman to reach the summit of “the savage mountain”. He and his mainly Dutch team were on the way down when a section of ice about 40ft high broke off near the summit. The group was in an area known as the Dead Zone, heading for a treacherous stretch called the Bottleneck, where the rock face narrows dramatically 1,800ft from the peak.

A total of 17 climbers, including the Dutch, are thought to have been caught up in the ice slip on the 28,251ft (8,611-metre) mountain. Other climbers came from Norway, Australia and Nepal. None is believed to be British.

Pat Falvey, one of Ireland’s best known mountaineers and a friend of McDonnell, has been in contact with the expedition from his home. “The news is devastating,” he said. “It has been reported to me [from K2] that there have been between four and seven deaths. Five or six people have been spotted above the Bottleneck.”

Falvey said the clear, warm weather that had helped the climbers reached the summit had then turned against them, loosening the ice and contributing to the avalanche. “The moving river of ice broke loose and the six lines put in place for the climbers were wiped from the face so everyone climbing down will have to go on to the treacherous ice and come down without support,” he said.

Falvey added that Cecilie Skog, who is part of a Norwegian group, believed her husband Rolf Bae was dead. A body believed to be that of Bae was found late last night.

“She saw him being washed away,” said Falvey. “We believe she saw three more go with him. Bae and Gerard would be good friends and there is a chance they were descending together,” he added.

“Twelve of those climbers have now been in the Dead Zone for three days and everyone is concerned for their safety.”

After the fixed ropes, used to help climbers back to their base camp, were torn away, one group, including a climber who fell and broke either an arm or leg, was in effect trapped and had to negotiate a descent without the support that ropes would have given them.

McDonnell, 37, from Kilcornan, County Limerick, came within 2,000ft of K2’s summit in 2006. He finally reached the top at about 3pm British time on Friday. His achievement was the climax of an eight-week expedition to the mountain, which lies on the border of Pakistan and China.

Wilco van Rooijen, one of the Dutch climbers on McDonnell’s team, was making his third attempt at the summit.

Falvey was hopeful rescuers could reach some of the climbers, although the air is too thin at that altitude to attempt a helicopter rescue. “Time is really important here. You can’t stay at high altitude,” he said. “All these climbers would be exhausted and it is vital that they get help.

“High altitude porters are making their way to them and the hope is they will get there. The weather is good and is expected to stay that way for a while.”

A lone figure in orange was seen moving slowly down the the mountain from the scene of the disaster.

“Those left up there will go weak,” said Falvey. “The lack of oxygen to the brain will make them disorientated. The body doesn’t recover at this height.

“Anyone who wasn’t involved in the accident would be planning to get out of it in the next couple of hours [by 4am UK time] because after that they are really going into a deteriorated state.”

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