Daredevil who performed at Super Bowl with Madonna dies at Utah canyon | US News

Two people have been killed in a BASE jumping accident in a Utah canyon, one of them a daredevil athlete best known for performing onstage with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl.

Emergency responders were called on Sunday to a report of people injured in a BASE jumping attempt at Mineral Bottom, a remote desert area near the Utah-Colorado line, the sheriff’s office in Grand County said.

It confirmed one of those killed was Andy Lewis, 39, an extreme athlete known for feats in BASE jumping, a dangerous sport that involves parachuting to the ground after jumping from a tall fixed object.

The victims had been conducting a tandem jump, according to a social media post by Aerial Arts Moab, an acrobatics company which described Mr Lewis as “co-owner and best friend”.

The other person who was killed was Danny Joe Kregle, 68, a grandfather described by a family member as an accomplished businessman, Grand County sheriff Jamison Wiggins confirmed.

Kregle died on impact, while Mr Lewis survived for around three hours as emergency medical staff attempted to save his life, Sheriff Wiggins said, according to the New York Times.

The sheriff’s office is still investigating the cause of death for both victims, he added.

The office did not say how Mr Kregle and Mr Lewis had known each other.

In BASE jumping circles, Mr Lewis had a massive following and a reputation for pushing boundaries – falling into tighter spaces or opening his parachute later than his peers would dare, said John McEvoy, a BASE jumping instructor in Twin Falls, Idaho, who has jumped with him.

“He had an incredible level of athleticism and skill that was developed over years of practice,” Mr McEvoy said. “But then he would take an incredible amount of risk.”

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Mr Lewis was also a prominent figure in the niche sports of slacklining and tricklining, which blend elements of high-wire walking and aerial acrobatics – sometimes at dangerous heights.

He became an overnight celebrity when he appeared onstage in Madonna’s 2012 Super Bowl half-time show – sporting a Roman toga.

Mr Lewis bounced and executed tricks on his inch-wide line while Madonna sang.

He also owned BASE Jump Moab, a business that offered tandem jumps to customers, harnessed to a guide.

In a tribute to 68-year-old Mr Kregle, relative Sydney Laverty told The Times-Independent: “Danny had a wonderful sense of humour and was always looking for ways to make people laugh.

“One of his greatest joys was performing magic tricks alongside his granddaughter.”

Though there’s no official tally of BASE jumping deaths, a list compiled by BASEaddict.com shows 540 total fatalities around the world since 1981 – including 30 people killed last year.

Prominent deaths include BASE jumper Dean Potter and Graham Hunt, his climbing partner, who were killed in 2015 on a wingsuit flight in California’s Yosemite National Park.

Lewis had previously commented on the sport’s inherent danger.

“It’s weird to think about how many people are dead, because it’s like a normal thing,” Lewis told documentary filmmaker Ella Warnick in an interview published last year.

Between 2008 and 2011, Lewis won four straight world championships in competitive slacklining.

In 2014, he walked a slackline suspended between two hot air balloons more than 4,000ft (1,200m) above the Nevada desert.