Legendary stuntman Felix Baumgartner may have had a mid-air heart attack when he plunged to his death this week, injuring a resort employee as he crashed into a busy pool area, according to local reports.
The Austrian daredevil — who in 2012 became the first person to skydive from the edge of space –reportedly complained of feeling ill before his fatal paragliding jump Thursday in the Italian coastal town of Porto Sant’Elpidio, Italian news outlet Il Resto del Carlino reported.
When he crashed into a bustling swimming pool full of children, an air ambulance was called — but never used because Baumgartner’s heart had completely stopped, the outlet said.
A working theory for investigators is that the heart attack started while Baumgartner, 56, was still in the air, leaving him unconscious and the motorized hang glider spiralling to the ground, the outlet said.
He smashed into a wooden structure near the bustling swimming pool full of children at the Le Mimose campsite — and an employee was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries when she was struck by debris, according to la Repubblica.
Two hours before the deadly crash, Baumgartner posted an Instagram Story with the ominous caption “too much wind.”
Baumgartner was world-famous for his record-setting stunts, most notably a 24-mile skydive from the edge of space in 2012.
