A 34-year-old crew member on the film “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” is dead after a prop car crushed him on set in Cape Town, South Africa, according to media reports.
Ricardo Cornelius was part of a team manually rotating a U.S. Army Hummer on the Milla Jovovich horror-thriller in early December, per website IOL, when the vehicle slipped and pinned him beneath.
Representatives for producers Constantin Films did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Cornelius was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support, where he was pronounced dead hours later.
A camera operator on the film shared Instagram photos from the set throughout December. One particular upload is a collage that features Jovovich at the wheel of a Hummer and a still of the vehicle surrounded by rubble.
Cornelius’ widow Shafiefa gave a lengthy interview to IOL, in which she accused her husband’s local employer All Access Crews of minimizing the injury to obtain identification documents for his treatment.
“[Ricardo’s colleague] called me and said he needs Ricardo’s identity document because he got hurt at work but I don’t have to worry,” she said.
“I couldn’t find his ID so I gave our marriage certificate. When I asked what happened, (he) said Ricardo will have to stay in hospital for a few days.”
Shafiefa said the company “helped her financially,” but she’s in the dark about the events surrounding her husband’s death.
“No one can tell me what happened, I need closure. His colleagues who I spoke to blocked me on WhatsApp,” she said of the widely used messaging app.
News of the tragedy comes on the heels of stunt woman Olivia Jackson’s revelation that she’ll need to amputate her arm after a motorcycle chase injury during production.
The “Resident Evil” franchise counts five completed films based on the Capcom video game of the same name. Jovovich stars in all, with husband Paul W.S. Anderson serving as writer and executive producer.
Anderson directed the first and is back at the helm for “The Final Chapter.”