THE recent horrific incident involving Selina Jen from popular Taiwanese girl band S.H.E has stunned the world, turning the spotlight on the dangers that artists face on the job.
Jen is one of many unfortunate stars who have met with a mishap while filming on set.
The 28-year-old was into her fifth day of shooting for a musical drama, I Have A Date With Spring, when a series of planned explosions went awry.
The singer-actress and her co-star, China singer-actor Yu Haoming, 22, were in a disused factory filming a scene, in which explosives were rigged to go off one after another. However, the dynamite supposedly went off sooner than expected, catching them off guard.
Jen reportedly suffered third-degree burns on 40 per cent of her body, on her back, hands and legs.
While previous reports said her face was not hurt, Ms Linda Ho, general manager of Jen's record label, H.I.M International Music, confirmed at a press conference yesterday that she had minor facial burns.
But she added that those burns were not serious and the actress would recover from those injuries quickly.
The injuries on the other parts of her body, however, would take a longer time to heal, she said. Her father, Jen Ming-ting, said that she is in a stable condition.
Choking back tears, he told Taiwanese reporters: "If I could, I would willingly take on all the suffering she is going through."
Yu reportedly sustained more serious injuries after shielding Jen from the blast. He has third-degree burns on his back, hands and legs. He is unable to speak and his eyes are sealed shut because of swelling on his face, according to website Udn.com.
Jen, who had recently come clean about her three-year relationship with her fiance, lawyer Richard Chang, 39, at an S.H.E concert in May, was initially taken to the intensive-care unit of Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai.
The songstress was flown back to Taiwan on Sunday night, via an International SOS medical plane, for skin-grafting treatment. She is at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital's burn centre at Linkou in Taipei, where a medical team has been assembled.
The team will first examine her condition before deciding what is the appropriate course of treatment to take, said Udn.com.
Jen was on a gurney when she arrived at the Taiwan hospital, and was wrapped from head to toe in a green hospital blanket to avoid being seen.
According to Chinese site shenpian.com, her family members has issued a gag order on the personnel from the SOS medical plane, as well as on hospital staff, requesting that they do not disclose any information to the media, including how Jen looks with her wounds.
my paper understands that it might take Jen - who had plans for marriage next year - at least six months to recover, and her work commitments would have to be shelved.
Speculation was rife that the television drama's production company would replace Jen and Yu and resume filming. The rumours riled fans, who took to the Internet slamming the producers for being heartless.
Taiwanese director Chen Ming-chang has come out to address the issue on his microblog, stressing that the crew will wait for the condition of the two actors to improve before checking with them whether they would resume their roles. Only if they decline to return, wrote Chen, would they consider replacing the actors.
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