New Investigations Aim to Reconstruct Felix Baumgartner's Last Minutes
After the autopsy of the body of extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner, who died in a fatal accident in Italy last Thursday, ruled out cardiac arrest as the cause of death, the public prosecutor of the central Italian city of Fermo has ordered new technical investigations to reconstruct the last flight minutes of the 56-year-old. This was reported from investigative circles.
Video Camera to Provide Insight into Baumgartner's Last Minutes
The investigation focuses, among other things, on the video camera mounted on the Austrian's motorized paraglider. If the device's storage systems are still functional and readable, they could provide crucial clues as to what happened in the dramatic moments before the accident.
A central role is played by the technical report, which is to be prepared by an expert on behalf of the public prosecutor. The expert is to clarify who installed the video cameras on the aircraft. The motor paraglider is owned by an airfield in the seaside resort of Porto Sant'Elpidio in the Adriatic region of Marche, from which Baumgartner took off before his last fatal flight.
Emergency Parachute Could Not Be Opened
The airfield is only a few minutes away from the swimming pool where Baumgartner crashed. In addition, the question arises whether mistakes were made during takeoff or during the flight - and why the emergency parachute did not open.
A camera had been mounted on Baumgartner's paraglider, which was allegedly inadequately secured. For reasons still unclear, it came near the propeller during the flight. There, it was caught, which presumably led to the immediate collapse of the paraglider and triggered the crash.
According to eyewitnesses, Baumgartner still tried to activate the emergency parachute. But the altitude was already too low for that. Three eyewitnesses consistently reported that they saw the aircraft in an uncontrollable nosedive - with a collapsed, no longer controllable paraglider surface.
Cause of Death of Felix Baumgartner Clarified
A broken neck and fatal injuries to the spinal cord are, according to the autopsy, the causes of death of Felix Baumgartner. The investigation is currently still being conducted against unknown persons.
The partner of the extreme athlete, Romanian TV journalist Mihaela Rădulescu Schwartzenberg, thanked the investigators. "The public prosecutor's office, to whom I thank for their willingness to cooperate, returned the body to us directly after the autopsy, and Felix can finally be brought home to Austria. However, the date of the funeral has not yet been set," she said to the daily newspaper "Il Resto del Carlino". Rădulescu Schwartzenberg, Baumgartner's partner for 13 years, was vacationing with him in Porto Sant Elpidio when the accident happened on Thursday.
According to a media report, a car with Baumgartner's coffin has now departed from the city of Fermo towards Salzburg, where it is expected to arrive on Thursday. There was no information about the burial yet.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.