One of the stars of The Fast And The Furious film series has died after a Porsche he was travelling in crashed and burst into flames.
Paul Walker, 40, was in the 330km/h Carrera GT when his friend Roger Rodas lost control and smashed head on into a tree.
Friends and Rodas’s eight-year-old son who were nearby rushed to try to pull them out, but neither man escaped as a fireball engulfed the high-performance car, turning it into a charred wreck.
Walker was in the midst of filming the seventh instalment of The Fast And The Furious series, which is about illegal street racing.
The original film in 2001 was initially written off as a B-movie vehicle for Vin Diesel, a nightclub bouncer turned action star, but has proved to be Universal Studios’ biggest ever franchise. It is not clear if filming will continue.
Walker had been attending an event for his charity, Reach Out Worldwide, to benefit the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines when tragedy struck on Saturday afternoon. The fundraiser was held at a car customisation workshop in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles in California, and just 30 minutes before he died Walker was photographed standing by Rodas’s Porsche.
Witnesses said that Rodas, 38, who was Walker’s financial adviser, pulled up and the film star ‘jumped in’.
SPEED TO BLAME
They crashed less than 300 metres away. The sheriff’s department claimed that speed was a factor.
Witness and friend Antonio Holmes said: “We all grabbed fire extinguishers and immediately went to the vehicle. It was engulfed in flames. They were trapped.”
Another witness, Jim Torp, added: “This was just a tragic accident that happened on a joy ride. [Walker] lived his life and he died fast and furious.
“He loved speed, he loved cars, and he had to die this way.”
Walker was a self-confessed adrenaline junkie who according to fans on Twitter once said:
“If one day the speed kills me, do not cry because I was smiling.”
Walker’s big break came in The Fast And The Furious films playing undercover police officer Brian O’Conner. In 2003 he was rumoured to be in the frame to become the next James Bond, and once turned down the role of Superman.
He had also been described as a ‘young Steve McQueen’ thanks to his surfer good looks of blue eyes and blond hair.
Walker often performed his own stunts, and off screen lived a life similar to that of his Fast And The Furious character. He owned several powerful sports cars, including a Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R that he drove in the second film in the franchise.
Last night his family were in mourning, including his daughter, Meadow Rain, 15, and his girlfriend, college student Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell, 23. Among those paying tribute yesterday was co-star Vin Diesel who tweeted: ‘Brother I will miss you very much. I am absolutely speechless. Rest in peace.’ -Daily Mail