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Extreme athlete who jumped from edge of space dies after paragliding crash
Felix Baumgartner, the extreme athlete who once jumped from the edge of space, has died in a paragliding crash in Italy.
The 56-year-old Austrian lost control of his motorised paraglider while flying over Porto Sant'Elpidio in the central Marche region. He then fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel.
The reasons for the accident were unclear. According to reports, he fell ill and lost control.
During the fall, he is thought to have hit a hotel employee, who was taken to hospital with neck injuries, according to Sky Sports Austria. She was reportedly injured by a piece of debris that had been dislodged during the vehicle's impact.
The mayor of Porto Sant'Elpidio, Massimiliano Ciarpella, offered the town's condolences for the death of "a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flights". Mr Baumgartner is best known for smashing the world record for the highest skydive after leaping from the edge of space in October 2012.
He ascended to 128,097ft in a pressurised capsule suspended beneath a giant helium balloon. He then jumped out, freefalling for four minutes and 19 seconds before opening his parachute.
He made the historic jump over Roswell, New Mexico, reaching a peak speed of over 833mph (1,343kph). Mr Baumgartner's altitude record stood until 2014 when American computer scientist Alan Eustace did a jump from a height of 135,890ft..
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