Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner killed in horror paragliding crash

Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner - who rose to fame in 2012 after jumping from the edge of space - has died in a horror paragliding crash.

The extreme sportsman was pronounced dead this afternoon at the age of 56 following a paragliding accident in Italy. Local reports said his craft landed in a swimming pool at a holiday resort in Porto Sant'Elpidio, Fermo, leaving one hotel employee on the ground injured. Felix is understood to have complained of feeling unwell while his paraglider was airborne, losing control of the craft shortly after. The woman hit by his paraglider was rushed to hospital, but is not in a serious condition.

A few hours before the accident, Felix posted a video on his Instagram showing him flying with a paramotor paraglider. He also shared a photo of an airfield with the caption: "Too much wind."

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Felix Baumgartner became famous around the world in 2012 when he successfully completed a record-breaking jump from the stratosphere at a height of 24 miles (128,100ft).

After reaching the height by sitting inside a metal cabin attached to a set of giant weather balloons, he made the jump unassisted, releasing his parachute only a few miles above the ground.

Felix's descent from the 'edge of space' in a pressure suit lasted around 10 minutes, and saw him become the first man to break the sound barrier in free fall. His record for the highest parachute jump was broken in 2014 by Google executive Alan Eustace, who leapt from a height of 135,890ft.

The Stratos jump was funded by Red Bull, and became the focus of a major advertising campaign by the energy drinks brand.

A trained commercial pilot, Felix Baumgartner retired from extreme sports after the jump to focus on airshows and his charity work. This involved fundraising for the Wings For Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation, a non-profit organisation funding research in spinal cord injuries.

In later years he courted some controversy with his political views, including his criticism of the refugee policies of his home country of Austria, and those of former German chancellor Angela Merkel. He once said that he believed "moderate dictatorship" would be a more effective system than democracy, and in 2016 recommended Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for the Nobel Peace Prize, while endorsing a right-wing populist candidate for the Austrian presidency.

In 2010, he was convicted of punching a Greek lorry driver during a road rage incident. He appealed the conviction, arguing he had acted in self-defence, but the original verdict was upheld when the case went back to court in 2012.