The 56-year-old reportedly felt ill, lost control, and fell into the pool of a resort in the Marche region, injuring a woman. With his leaps from the stratosphere, he had made history and set several world records.
Felix Baumgartner, 56-year-old Austrian base jumper and skydiver died in a paragliding accident today in the province of Fermo. Baumgartner was known worldwide for his extreme feats, particularly his stratospheric jump with which he set three world records.
The man was reportedly taken ill during a launch and lost control of the paraglider, crashing into a swimming pool at a hotel in Porto Sant'Elpidio. The tragedy occurred around 4:00 PM. During the fall, the aircraft struck a young woman who was injured but, fortunately, is not in serious condition. According to initial reports, the man was already dead at the time of impact.
On October 14, 2012, he jumped from an altitude of almost 125,000 feet, reaching a top speed of 840 mph, breaking the sound barrier. This allowed him to set several records, including the greatest height reached by a man in a balloon ascent, the highest freefall jump, and the fastest freefall speed. Baumgartner's jump remains an iconic moment in the history of skydiving and human exploration (although the record was later broken by Alan Eustace in 2014). A dream since childhood, he said as soon as he completed the feat, recalling that in a drawing he made when he was 5 years old, he already imagined himself jumping with a parachute.
