Beachgoers knew something was wrong when they heard a loud boom ring out as a paraglider spun out of control, killing its only occupant, extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, when it crashed next to a swimming pool near the Adriatic Sea. A 30-year-old mother watched the deadly descent unfold Thursday afternoon from nearby with her two young children, who were entranced by the constant traffic of paragliders above the beach town of Porto Sant'Elpidio in central Italy's Marche region. "Everything was normal, then it started to spin like a top," Mirella Ivanov told the AP on Friday.
"It went down and we heard a roar," Ivanov continued. "I turned around because I thought it [had] crashed on the rocks. Then I saw two lifeguards running" toward the crash site. When the mother saw people trying to revive the occupant, she whisked her two children away. The cause of the paragliding accident is still under investigation. "It is a destiny that is very hard to comprehend for a man who has [broken] all kinds of records, who has been an icon of flight, and who traveled through space," said Porto Sant'Elpidio Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella.
The mayor said that Baumgartner had been in the area on vacation and that investigators believe he may have fallen ill during the fatal flight. Per the New York Post, Italian newspaper Il Resto del Carlino reports that Baumgartner had complained of not feeling well before Thursday's jump, with investigators speculating he may have had a heart attack midair. The Clube del Sole Le Mimose beachside resort where the crash occurred said in a statement that an employee who'd been "slightly injured" in the accident was in good condition. No guests were injured.
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Baumgartner's social media feed features videos of him in recent days flying on a motorized paraglider—known as paramotoring—above seaside towns, as well as taking off from a nearby airfield surrounded by cornfields. In 2012, Baumgartner, known as "Fearless Felix," became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. The former Austrian military parachutist made thousands of jumps from planes, bridges, skyscrapers, and famed landmarks, and 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.
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