Female stunt driver dies while filming Deadpool 2

VANCOUVER — A female stunt driver working on the movie Deadpool 2 has died after witnesses say she appeared to lose control of a motorcycle before crashing into a window of a building in downtown Vancouver.

A crumpled motorcycle was seen laying on its side surrounded by broken glass a few metres from the smashed window of the Shaw Tower near the city’s waterfront. Crew members appeared distraught and one was in tears.

“She lost control really quickly. It happened in a split second,” said Nathan Kramchynski, who works inside the Shaw building and watched the accident from the seventh floor on Monday morning.

He said he had been watching rehearsals of the stunt across the street outside the Vancouver Convention Centre. The stuntwoman had been riding slowly down a set of stairs and stopping when she reached the road, he said. When it looked like the crew was ready to film the scene, Kramchynski and his coworkers rushed over to the window to watch. But that time, the driver suddenly picked up speed and crossed the street, he said.

“She kind of weaved through, almost hit a pedestrian,” he said. “She was going full throttle and then there’s a building there.”

Sharmina Kermalli was in a Starbucks in the ground floor of the tower when she heard a loud crash. She ran toward the noise and saw a woman lying inside the building, across where the glass panel had been.

Shards were still falling on the woman, and people were running over and picking glass off her face, Kermalli said.

Kermalli said just moments earlier she had walked by the spot where the crash happened.

“I was thinking, what if I was just five seconds (later),” she said.

Deadpool, a Marvel Comics superhero, is played by Vancouverborn actor Ryan Reynolds. A few days ago, he thanked Vancouver police and the people in city for putting up with road closures and traffic delays during filming.

A spokesman for 20th Century Fox issued a statement Monday that said, “We are deeply saddened by the accident that occurred on the set of Deadpool 2 this morning. Our hearts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of our crew member during this difficult time.”

Multiple Vancouver police officers were at the scene and investigators with WorkSafeBC, the provincial workplace safety agency, were also looking into the crash.