Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from edge of space, dies paragliding

Felix Baumgartner, who once broke the world record for the highest skydive by jumping from the edge of space, has died in a motorised paragliding accident in Italy.

The 56-year-old fell to the ground near the swimming pool of a hotel while flying over the village of Porto Sant’Elpidio in the eastern Marche region.

Porto Sant’Elpidio’s Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella said reports suggested he may have suffered a sudden medical issue mid-air.

The Austrian daredevil made headlines in 2012 when he broke the world record – and the sound barrier – for the highest-ever skydive, jumping from a balloon more than 39km (128,000 ft) up in the stratosphere.

Baumgartner was described as “a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flights” by Ciarpella, who offered the town’s condolences for his death.

Fans have left their own tributes beneath one of the skydiver’s final social media posts, a video of him working on the motor of his paraglider.

Another post from around 14:30 local time (13:30 BST) bore the text “too much wind” and featured a picture of a full windsock against a cloudy sky.

The extreme sportsman was known as “Fearless Felix” for his adventurous stunts.

He set one of his earliest records in 1999 for the world’s lowest base jump, from the 30m (98ft) high hand of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue.

In the same year, he set the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building, when he launched himself from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Then, in 2003, he completed a flight across the English Channel wearing a specially made jumpsuit with carbon-fibre wings.

But the extreme sportsman was best known for his space leap. Speaking at a news conference after his record-breaking jump, he said: “When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble.”

He added: “You don’t think about breaking records anymore, you don’t think about gaining scientific data – the only thing that you want is to come back alive.”