Renowned daredevil Felix Baumgartner, famous for his record-smashing stunts — including a 24-mile skydive from the edge of space in 2012 — has died in a paragliding accident in Italy, according to local media reports.
The 56-year-old Austrian extreme sports enthusiast reportedly fell ill while flying a motorized paraglider in the Italian coastal town of Porto Sant’Elpidio, crashing the craft into a hotel swimming pool.
Felix Baumgartner, a legendary skydiver most known for his 2012 stratosphere jump, has died at 56 in a tragic paragliding accident. Getty Images
He reportedly died instantly during the freak accident, according to media reports. A hotel employee was also injured after being struck by the glider and taken to the hospital with neck injuries.
Two hours before the deadly crash, Baumgartner posted an Instagram Story with the ominous caption “too much wind.”
Two hours before the crash, Baumgartner posted an Instagram Story with the ominous caption “too much wind.” Instagram/@therealfelixbaumgartner
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.
Baumgartner rose to stardom after his famous 2012 jump from the stratosphere, a world record at the time. AFP/Getty Images
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 fiber 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 (843.6 mph) 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.
Social media users posted words of tribute to the fallen daredevil.
“Shocked by the news, RIP,” wrote one fan.
“We will all miss you Felix,” another commented.
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