Felix Baumgartner is dead: the base jumper was taken ill during a jump in Fermo.

Felix Baumgartner , a 56-year-old Austrian base jumper and skydiver, has died. A fatal jump occurred in Porto Sant'Elpidio , near Fermo . The athlete was paragliding but, during the flight, he became ill, lost control of the craft, crashed, and died. He was known worldwide for his extreme feats, particularly his leap from the stratosphere, with which he set three world records.

Baumgartner, the fatal accident

After his final hang-gliding jump and feeling ill, the Austrian champion fell into the swimming pool of a coastal resort, hitting a young woman who sustained injuries from the impact. The young woman's life is not in danger. Following the crash, the man—as reported by Il Resto del Carlino —immediately lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest. Emergency responders requested an air ambulance for emergency transport to the Torrette Hospital in Ancona, but the man was never loaded onto the helicopter because his heart stopped beating.

Baumgartner on holiday in Italy

Baumgartner was on vacation in the Marche region . He had written about it himself on Facebook five days ago, posting a photo of himself in flight. "Greetings, a flying holiday from Fermo, Italy. Where are you going on holiday this year?" In the Instagram stories posted yesterday, however, he posted his latest photos with his family.

Baumgarnter's exploits

Baumgartner entered the history of extreme sports primarily for his leap from the stratosphere on October 14, 2012, when he jumped from an altitude of 38,969 meters, becoming the first person to freefall faster than the speed of sound. On that occasion, he set three world records: the greatest height ever reached by a manned hot-air balloon, the greatest free-fall jump from the highest altitude, and the fastest speed achieved by a man in freefall, 1,357.6 km/h.

Baumgartner dies: his videos tell a story of life many meters above the sky, right up to the very end