Filming on 'Fast & Furious 9' suspended after stuntman suffers serious head injury

Filming on Fast & Furious 9 has been stopped after a stuntman fell on the film's set and suffered a serious head injury.

According to the East of England Ambulance Service, the performer was air lifted to hospital from the film's set at Leavesden Studios, near Watford.

“An ambulance, three ambulance officer vehicles and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance were called to Leavesden Studios shortly before midday today (July 22), following reports of a man injured in a fall,” read a statement.

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“One patient with a serious head injury was transported to the Royal London Hospital by air ambulance.”

A spokesperson for Universal confirmed: “We had an injury on the set of Fast 9 with one of our stuntmen. We have halted production for the day to focus on this situation.”

According to reports in The Sun, it's said that the performer fell 30 feet from a balcony to the ground during a stunt.

A source told the paper: “Vin Diesel was seen on set seconds after. He looked ashen, totally in shock and blinking back tears. He saw what happened.”

They added: “They were filming a very high balcony scene. The stuntman leapt from the balcony attached to a safety wire, but it looks like the cable snapped.

“He was meant to be left dangling below the balcony via the wire and then lowered slowly to the ground, but he plunged to the ground and landed on his head.

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“There were gasps and screams when the poor guy hit the floor. It’s horrific and obviously all caught on camera. This was handed to police.”

Diesel has suffered previous tragedy on action movies.

His stunt double, 45-year-old veteran Harry O'Connor, died in a parasailing accident while filming xXx in Prague in 2002.

Diesel's friend Paul Walker also died in a car wreck during a break in filming while making the seventh Fast & Furious movie.

Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, the next film in the Fast franchise, revs into cinemas on 1 August. Watch a trailer below.