By euronews
Published on
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The Austrian extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner, who became world-famous for his jump from the stratosphere, has died in an accident in Italy.
This was reported by several Italian media outlets. The Italian fire brigade and the Foreign Ministry in Vienna have confirmed the accident.
According to previous information, the 56-year-old was travelling with his paraglider on the Adriatic coast, taking off from Fermo.
He reportedly lost control of the paraglider, the reason for which remains unclear. What is certain is that he crashed. A tourist saw the accident and immediately alerted the emergency services.
Baumgartner crashed into a swimming pool at a campsite and fell onto a woman, who was injured. According to media reports, Baumgartner suffered a cardiac arrest while still in the air.
Just hours before, he had posted an image in his Instagram story captioned: “Too much wind.”
Baumgartner achieved worldwide fame for his breath-taking stunts. His most famous and perhaps most courageous stunt was a jump from the stratosphere in 2012.
He plunged into the depths from a height of around 39 kilometres, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier in free fall. He reached a speed of 1342.8 kilometres per hour.
