A stuntman has died and six other crew members were seriously injured in a fire on the set of John Woo's latest movie "Chi Bi" or "Red Cliff," the Beijing News reported.

The fire occurred Monday morning during shooting of an action sequence in the Chinese capital, when the special effects crew purposely set a small boat on fire which accidentally crashed into a larger boat. The flames spread fast killing Lu Yanqing, a 23-year-old stuntman.

The rescue team was quoted as saying the crew might have accidentally ignited a flame that came into contact with inflammable gas on a boat, setting off the fire from which Lu was unable to escape.

While the fire department is investigating the cause of the fire, production was stopped and Woo, who was in Hong Kong at the time of the accident, rushed back to Beijing.

Deeply saddened by the death and injuries, the crew "are making every effort to make arrangements for the decreased, his family and the injured crew members," the statement added.

According to Varietyasiaonline.com, since the beginning of its production, the movie faced a string of difficulties, some of them weather-related, heavy rains washed away part of an outdoor set in Hebei, northern China, and some of them linked to he revolving-door personnel changes on the film. Tony Leung Chiu-wai ("Lust, Caution") dropped out of the pic and he was replaced by Takeshi Kaneshiro. Soon afterwards, close Woo ally Chow Yun-fat ankled. Two days after Chow left, Leung was back in the lineup as lead actor, replacing Chow. The remaining cast includes Zhang Fengyi, Chiling Lin, Chang Chen, Vicky Zhao and Hu Jun.

With a budget of $80 million, "Cliff" is the most expensive movie ever made in Asia, with funding coming entirely from independent producers in the region, China's China Film, CMC Entertainment in Taiwan, Avex in Japan and South Korea's Showbox.

Marking marks Woo's first Chinese-language effort in 15 years, "Red Cliff," officially wrapped up filming in late November but some second unit work was still ongoing. Adapted from China's classic novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the production is set in 208 AD in the dying days of the Han dynasty, culminating in the battle of Red Cliff in which 2,000 ships were burnt.