Ottieley Mitchell and Holly Cole
BBC News
Getty Images
Felix Baumgartner, who once leapt from the edge of space to break the world record for the best skydives, died in an electric paraglise accident in Italy.
The 56-year-old fell on the ground near the hotel’s swimming pool while flying through the village of Porto San Terpidio in the eastern Marche region.
Masimiliano Ciapera, mayor of Porto San Terpidio, said he reported that he suggested that he may have suffered sudden medical problems in the air.
Daredevil, Austria, made headlines in 2012 when he jumped off a balloon of over 39km (128,000 feet) in the stratosphere to break the world record and sound barrier for the greatest skydive ever.
Watch: Felix Baumgartner will jump into the record book in 2012
Baumgartner was described as “a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight” by Mayor Ciapera, who offered the town’s pathetic dolphin to his death.
Fans leave their respect under the video working on his paraglider motor in one of Skydiver’s final social media posts.
Another post from around 2:30pm local time (13:30pm BST) featured a photo of a full wind sock against the cloudy sky with “too much wind” in the text.
The extreme sportsman was known as the “fearless Felix” for his adventurous stunts.
Reuters
Baumgartner flew through the channel in 2003 with a bank-bound oxygen tank and a parachute for landing.
He set one of his earliest records for the world’s lowest base jump in 1999, from the height of the statue of the Savior, the Christ of Rio de Janeiro, 30m (98 feet).
In the same year, he set a world record for the best parachute jumps when he launched himself from Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Then, in 2003, he completed a flight across the English Channel in a specially made jumpsuit with carbon fiber wings.
However, the extreme sportsman was best known for his space leap. Speaking at a media conference after his record-breaking jump, he said, “When I was at the top of the world, you’re very humbled.”
“You’re not thinking about breaking records anymore. You don’t think about getting scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back to life.”
Reuters
After jumping to the sign of respect, Baumgartner placed the flower on the shoulder of Christ on the shoulder of the Savior’s statue.
