Felix Baumgartner, extreme athlete, dies in paragliding crash in Italy

The celebrated daredevil, known for his record-breaking jumps, mislaid power of his paraglider and crashed into a edifice pool.

Renowned utmost jock Felix Baumgartner, astir celebrated for jumping from a grounds 39 kilometres (24 miles) astatine the borderline of abstraction successful the 2012 Red Bull Stratos project, has died successful a paragliding mishap successful Italy connected Thursday.

The 56-year-old Austrian crashed his paraglider successful Porto Sant’Elpidio, situated connected the Italian Adriatic coast, aft losing power and plunged into a woody operation adjacent to a swimming excavation of the Le Mimose Family Camping Village, according to Italian media reports.

A pistillate edifice worker was injured by a portion of debris and taken to infirmary with cervix injuries.

Baumgartner died astatine the country of the accident, and investigations into the circumstances of the mishap are nether way.

Italian media reported that Baumgartner had already mislaid consciousness successful the air.

The city’s mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, confirmed Baumgartner’s decease successful a societal media post.

“Our assemblage is profoundly affected by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a fig of planetary prominence, a awesome of courageousness and passionateness for utmost flight,” the politician said.

Just 2 hours earlier his deadly crash, helium posted connected the societal media level Instagram with the foreboding caption “too overmuch wind”.

The celebrated 2012 leap from the borderline of abstraction that propelled Felix Baumgartner to planetary fame [Handout/Red Bull Content/Pool via Reuters]

From skydiving to the stratosphere

Born successful Salzburg, Baumgartner completed his archetypal parachute leap astatine the property of 16 and aboriginal became a parachutist successful the Austrian military.

Baumgartner’s estimation arsenic an utmost sports jock grew exponentially erstwhile helium turned his manus to the athletics of basal jumping successful the 1990s.

He acceptable a caller satellite grounds for the highest basal leap from a gathering with his leap from the Petronas Towers successful Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, successful 1999. Later that year, helium completed a basal leap from the celebrated statue of Christ the Redeemer successful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

On July 31, 2003, Baumgartner again made planetary headlines for his basal jumping feats erstwhile helium became the archetypal idiosyncratic to transverse the English Channel successful escaped autumn aft jumping retired of a level equipped with specially developed wings made of carbon.

But it was Baumgartner’s record-breaking escaped autumn from abstraction successful 2012 that changeable the Austrian to worldwide fame.

Over the godforsaken of New Mexico, helium jumped from a helium balloon astir 39km (24 miles) supra the satellite and became the archetypal idiosyncratic to interruption the dependable obstruction successful escaped fall.

Baumgartner acceptable 3 satellite records for his jump: He reached a maximum velocity of 1,357.6 kilometres per hr (834mph), oregon Mach 1.25; completed the highest leap astatine 38,969 metres; and recorded the longest escaped autumn with a magnitude of 36,402 metres.

His decease was confirmed precocious connected Thursday by the vigor portion institution Red Bull, which sponsored galore of Baumgartner’s stunts.

Baumgartner jumps retired of a level supra Dover, England, connected July 31, 2003, wearing a c fibre helping suit [Helmut Tucek/AFP]