Space jump icon Felix Baumgartner dead in tragic incident
The legend behind one of the greatest daredevil acts the world has known has died at the age of 56 in tragic circumstances.
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Renowned daredevil Felix Baumgartner, famous for his record-smashing stunts — including a 38km/h skydive from the edge of space in 2012 — has died in a paragliding accident in Italy.
The 56-year-old Austrian extreme sports enthusiast reportedly fell suddenly ill while flying a motorised paraglider in the Italian coastal town of Porto Sant’Elpidio, crashing the craft into a hotel swimming pool.
He reportedly died instantly during the freak accident, according to Sky Sport Austria.
A hotel employee was also injured after being struck by the glider and taken to the hospital with neck injuries.
An Italian emergency services senior official has confirmed to AFP Baumgartner suffered a “malaise” before the tragic crash.
Local reports claim the Red Bull athlete immediately lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest.
Emergency responders requested an air ambulance, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Two hours before the deadly crash, Baumgartner posted an Instagram Story with the ominous caption “too much wind.”
His attention-grabbing stunts included extreme parachuting, BASE jumping and skydiving.
In 1999, he set the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he took a leap from the 1,483-foot Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
That same year, he set a record for the lowest BASE jump ever, hurtling himself from the 85-foot arm of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
Then in 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to skydive across the English Channel with the help of a custom-designed carbon fibre wing, leaping from the craft at a height of more than six miles over Dover, England before landing safely in Cap Blanc-Nez in France.
His most famous jump was in 2012, when Baumgartner jumped 24 miles from a helium balloon, reaching a top speed of Mach 1.25 (1358km/h) and becoming the first person to ever break the sound barrier without a vehicle.
He descended from the stratosphere in full free-fall for four minutes and 19 seconds before deploying his parachute.
The breathtaking stunt was sponsored and documented by Red Bull, which made a documentary from footage recorded from Baumgartner’s helmet-worn camera.
Around 8 million people watched the jump, which was streamed live on YouTube and broadcast on several other online and broadcast platforms.
Baumgartner’s accident came just hours after several tragic final posts on social media.
One showed him working on the glider that led to his death, with a caption: “Man at work.”
While another, posted on Instagram Stories, showed a field with Baumgartner commenting: “Too much wind.”
Following the shock news of his death, fans quickly paid tribute to Baumgartner on social media.
One said: “RIP legend.”
Another declared: “Can’t believe, am so sorry for his friends and family.”
One noted: “We will all miss you Felix.”
Another added: “Shocked by the news, RIP.”
— with The New York Post and The Sun
Originally published as Space jump icon Felix Baumgartner dead in tragic incident
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