Milan: Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian daredevil who made history by skydiving from the edge of space in 2012, has died following a paragliding crash in Italy. He was 56.

The incident occurred on Thursday near the eastern coastline of Porto Sant’Elpidio. According to local emergency services, the paraglider Baumgartner was piloting crashed into the side of a swimming pool. The city’s mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, confirmed the death in a social media post.

“Our community is deeply affected by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a figure of global prominence, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight," the mayor wrote.

Known around the world as “Fearless Felix,” Baumgartner captured global attention in 2012 when he became the first person to break the sound barrier without the aid of an aircraft. Wearing a pressurised suit, he jumped from a capsule carried 24 miles (39 kilometres) above Earth by a helium balloon, soaring through the stratosphere above New Mexico as part of the Red Bull Stratos project.

During his descent, which lasted nine minutes, Baumgartner reached speeds of 843.6 mph — around 1.25 times the speed of sound. His team later revealed that he briefly entered a dangerous flat spin while still travelling supersonically, spinning uncontrollably for 13 seconds.

“When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about of breaking records anymore, you do not think of about gaining scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back alive,” he said after safely landing in the New Mexico desert.

The record-setting jump also marked the highest-altitude skydive in history at the time, surpassing a benchmark that had stood since 1960. That earlier record-holder, Joe Kittinger, served as a mentor and adviser during Baumgartner’s mission. Though his altitude record was surpassed in 2014 by Google executive Alan Eustace, who completed a higher and longer free fall, Baumgartner’s supersonic feat remains iconic.

Millions of viewers tuned into the live-streamed event on YouTube as Baumgartner calmly gave a thumbs-up from the edge of space, exited the capsule, and eventually deployed his parachute before landing triumphantly.

Before achieving space-jumping fame, Baumgartner served as a military parachutist in Austria and became known for pushing the limits of extreme sports. Over the years, he completed thousands of jumps from aircraft, towering buildings, and landmarks, including Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer statue.

In 2003, he flew across the English Channel using a carbon fibre wing after leaping from an aircraft. In his later career, he performed stunt helicopter manoeuvres across Europe with the aerial display team The Flying Bulls.

Reflecting on his sonic-speed jump, Baumgartner once said, “Traveling faster than sound is hard to describe because you don’t feel it.”

“Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are,” he added.

(With inputs from AP)