Fri Jul 18 17:40:23 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a summarized news article based on the text you provided:
**Headline: “Fearless Felix” Baumgartner, Record-Breaking Skydiver, Dies in Paragliding Accident**
Porto Sant’Elpidio, Italy – Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian extreme athlete renowned for his record-breaking skydive from the stratosphere, died Thursday in a paragliding accident near the Adriatic Sea, according to the Associated Press. Witnesses reported hearing a loud boom and seeing Baumgartner’s paraglider spinning out of control before crashing near a swimming pool at the Clube de Sole Le Mimose beachside resort.
“Everything was normal, then it started to spin like a top,’’ Mirella Ivanov said on Friday. “It went down and we heard a roar.”
Local authorities confirmed Baumgartner’s death. He was 56 years old. Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella expressed shock at the loss of “an icon of flight” and suggested that Baumgartner may have fallen ill during the flight. Police are investigating the cause of the accident. One employee at the beachside resort was slightly injured during the crash, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Baumgartner gained international fame in 2012 when he became the first person to break the sound barrier in freefall during the Red Bull Stratos project. He jumped from a capsule high above Earth, reaching a speed of 843.6 mph (1,357.6km/h). Beyond the Stratos project, Baumgartner was an experienced skydiver who had performed thousands of jumps from various locations.
Red Bull, a long-time sponsor, released a statement calling him “precise, demanding, and critical.” Baumgartner had been vacationing in the area and was recently seen paramotoring over seaside towns.