Beachgoers sensed something was amiss when a loud boom echoed and a paraglider spiraled out of control, resulting in the tragic death of its sole occupant, renowned extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, as it crashed near a pool by the Adriatic Sea.
A 30-year-old mother observed the harrowing descent on Thursday afternoon from nearby, alongside her two young children, who were captivated by the stream of paragliders soaring above the coastal town of Porto Sant’Elpidio in Italy’s Marche region.
“Everything appeared normal until it started spinning like a top,” Mirella Ivanov recounted on Friday. “It descended, and we heard a loud noise. In fact, I turned around, thinking it had crashed onto the rocks. Then I noticed two lifeguards running, people heading towards” the crash location.
When she saw people trying to revive the occupant, she scurried her two children away.
The cityâs mayor confirmed the death of 56-year-old Baumgartner, who was renowned as the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound. The cause of the paragliding accident was under investigation. Police did not return calls asking for comment.
âIt is a destiny that is very hard to comprehend for a man who has broke all kinds of records, who has been an icon of flight, and who traveled through space,â Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella told The Associated Press.
Ciarpella said that Baumgartner had been in the area on vacation, and that investigators believed he may have fallen ill during the fatal flight.
Baumgartner’s social media feed features videos of him in recent days flying on a motorized paraglider âknown as paramotoring â above seaside towns, and taking off from a nearby airfield surrounded by cornfields.
The Club de Sole Le Mimose beachside resort where the crash occurred said in a statement that an employee who was âslightly injuredâ in the accident was in good condition. No guests were injured, and the pool has been reopened.
In 2012, Baumgartner, known as âFearless Felix,â became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurized suit and jumped from a capsule hoisted more than 24 miles above Earth by a giant helium balloon over New Mexico.
The Austrian, who was part of the Red Bull Stratos team, topped out at 843.6 mph â the equivalent of 1.25 times the speed of sound â during a nine-minute descent. At one point, he went into a potentially dangerous flat spin while still supersonic, spinning for 13 seconds, his crew later said.
Baumgartnerâs altitude record stood for two years until Google executive Alan Eustace set new marks for the highest free-fall jump and greatest free-fall distance.
In 2012, millions watched YouTubeâs livestream as Baumgartner coolly flashed a thumbs-up when he came out of the capsule high above Earth and then activated his parachute as he neared the ground, lifting his arms in victory after he landed.
Baumgartner, a former Austrian military parachutist, made thousands of jumps from planes, bridges, skyscrapers and famed landmarks, including the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil.
In 2003, he flew across the English Channel in a carbon fiber wing after being dropped from a plane.
In recent years, he performed with The Flying Bulls, an aviation team owned and operated by Red Bull, as a helicopter stunt pilot in shows across Europe.
Red Bull paid Baumgartner tribute in a post Friday, calling him âprecise, demanding and critical. With others, but above all toward yourself.â
The statement underlined the research and courage with which Baumgartner confronted âthe greatest challenges.â
âNo detail was too small, no risk too great, because you were capable of calculating it,ââ Red Bull said.
