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Felix Baumgartner cause of death: Austrian extreme athlete dies at 56
Felix Baumgartner, 56, died in a paragliding crash in Italy’s Porto Sant'Elpidio. He felt discomfort mid-air; a woman with him had minor injuries.
Austrian extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner has died in a paragliding accident at the age of 56 in Italy on Thursday, Sky Sports Austria reported citing Italian media. Baumgartner, who was from Salzburg, was paragliding in the Italian village of Porto Sant'Elpidio on the Adriatic coast when the incident happened, per Italian broadcaster RAI, which first reported the death.
The report added that Baumgartner felt some discomfort while paragliding, which resulted in the accident. Italian news agency Ansa reported that the incident happened at around 4 p.m. and Baumgartner was dead on impact.
The report by Sky Austria further stated that Baumgartner lost control of the motor paraglider and crashed into the swimming pool of a hotel nearby. The problem that caused him to lose control has not been revealed yet.
As he fell into the hotel, he hit an employee of the hotel. Per reports, the employee suffered minor injuries to the neck.
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Baumgartner's partner was with him in in the Italian village and has been informed of the 56-year-old's death, the report added.
Baumgartner rose to global fame for his iconic stunt of jumping from the edge of space into the earth back on October 14, 2012, as part of the Red Bull Stratos project. He rose 128,100 feet (39,045 meters), right to the edge of Earth and space, and skydived back to Earth successfully. The stunt remains the highest manned balloon flight, and the highest parachute jump ever done.
