Austrian extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner has died at the age of 56, according to Italian media reports. Baumgartner reportedly lost control of his paraglider while paragliding in the Italian coastal town of Porto Sant'Elpidio and fell into a swimming pool above a campsite. A woman was also injured in the impact, but her injuries are not life-threatening.

Baumgartner lived in Arbon, in the canton of Thurgau, before his death. His house and helicopter had previously been seized in Austria for tax debts, reports the Swiss Blick.

In the fall of 2012, the Austrian man became the first person to break the speed of sound without propulsion. He made the jump from a height of 39 kilometers, during which Baumgartner reached a top speed of 1,342 kilometers per hour.

Baumgartner took off from the New Mexico desert in a capsule suspended from a helium balloon 55 stories above the ground. After more than two hours of ascent, the former military paratrooper jumped out of the capsule in a special pressure- and heat-resistant spacesuit and raced toward Earth. Baumgartner landed safely in the New Mexico desert at 8:16 p.m. The jump lasted about 10 minutes in total, of which 4 minutes and 19 seconds were free fall.

Baumgartner was a recurring guest on the front pages of newspapers with his hair-raising stunts. He was the first person to cross the English Channel without using a motor or vehicle.

The Austrian has also performed a few illegal stunts. In 1999, for example, he jumped from the 88th floor of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. He had secretly mapped the terrain days before to avoid security personnel. He smuggled his parachute into the skyscraper in a briefcase.