40-year-old actor Paul Walker, known as the star of the street racing movie franchise 'Fast and Furious,' died in a a fiery car crash in Southern California, CNN reported. He had been in the passenger seat of a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, which had been driven by his racing team partner, Roger Rodas.
The sports car "slammed into a light pole and burst into flames in an office park in the community of Valencia in Santa Clarita, according to news reports.
Ame van Iden, Walker's publicist, confirmed the actor's death on Saturday.
Dana Bee, the Los Angeles Coroner Investigator said it would likely take 48 hours to identify the remains taken from the wreckage.
"The families are gathering dental records for use in the identification, which is necessary because of the condition of the bodies," said Bee.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office has said that speed was a factor in the crash.
"We all heard from our location. t's a little difficult to know what it was. Someone called it in and said it was a vehicle fire. We all ran around and jumped in cars and grabbed fire extinguishers and immediately went to the vehicle. It was engulfed in flames. There was nothing. They were trapped. Employees, friends of the shop. We tried. We tried. We went through fire extinguishers," said Antonio Holmes, a friend of Walker's who raced to the scene after hearing of the crash.
Walker and Rodas reportedly planned a charity event, which aimed to raise money for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Walker's career took off when he was cast as the undercover cop Brian O'Conner who infiltrated a street-racing in 2001's "The Fast and the Furious." He had been working on the seventh film of the franchise, which is due out next year.
Walker described himself as "outdoorsman, ocean addict, adrenaline junkie ... and I do some acting on the side," on his Twitter page.
Walker is survived by Meadow, his 15-year-old daughter.
