Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner dies in paramotor accident
Baumgartner achieved fame when he jumped 24 miles to Earth from a helium balloon in 2012.
He reached an estimated top speed of Mach 1.25 (843.6mph) during the stunt, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power.
According to Sky Sports Austria, Baumgartner was in Porto Sant'Elpidio, on Italy's Adriatic coast, when he got into difficulties while flying in a motorised paraglider. He suffered a 'sudden onset of illness', it was reported.
He lost control and plunged into a hotel swimming pool that was being used by holidaymakers and children.
Reports said he was killed instantly. Another report said preliminary investigations suggested he may have died before the crash.
A hotel employee who was struck by the paramotor was taken to hospital with neck injuries.
Baumgartner, wearing a spacesuit because of the lack of oxygen, took ten minutes to fall from the upper stratosphere in 2012. Only the last few thousand feet were negotiated with a parachute.
The daredevil had completed thousands of freefall dives in his career, was not able to stop himself from tumbling over and over in the first few minutes after leaping from the balloon capsule. He was eventually able to right himself and landed safely on the ground in New Mexico.
'It's a very hostile environment up there. If the suit fails, your blood would start to boil and you'd die in 15 seconds,' he said at the time. 'The parachute could malfunction or you could flat spin, which pushes all your blood into your skull. If that happens, at a certain RPM your blood only has one way out — through your eyeballs.'
Remembering the moment he opened the capsule door before the record-breaking jump, he said at a press conference afterwards: 'I looked up and the sky was black.
'It was completely silent. All you can hear is yourself breathing. It was very peaceful. Let me tell you, when I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble.
'You don't think about breaking records any more, you don't think about gaining scientific data; the only thing that you want is to come back alive.'
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