On 20 May 2019, Niki Lauda died in his sleep at the age of 70 at the University Hospital of Zürich, Switzerland, where he had been undergoing kidney dialysis. His passing followed a period of ill health, exacerbated by lung injuries sustained in his 1976 accident. He had undergone a double lung transplant the previous year and received kidney transplants in 1997 and 2005.