Austrian extreme sports record holder Felix Baumgartner, 56, sustained fatal spinal injuries with a ruptured spinal cord in a paragliding accident on the afternoon of Thursday, July 17 in Porto Sant’Elpidio (Fermo, Italy). The base jumper died after crashing his motorized paraglider into a swimming pool area at a coastal resort, according to preliminary forensic findings.
An autopsy scheduled for this morning aims to establish whether Baumgartner’s death resulted directly from the spinal trauma following a mid-air medical episode that caused unconsciousness, or if a fatal health crisis occurred during flight—making the subsequent impact injuries incidental to his demise. Investigators continue to examine both scenarios.