A woman has died and a man has been injured after Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on a film set, officials have confirmed.

According to Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, the shooting happened on the set of Rust – a movie that is being filmed in New Mexico.

A spokesman for Baldwin, who is producing and starring in the film, said there was an accident involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks.

The woman who died has been named as Halyna Hutchins – a 42-year-old director of photography.

She was transported via helicopter to University of New Mexico Hospital, but was later pronounced dead.

Joel Souza, the film’s director, was injured and is now being treated in hospital.

Juan Rios, the spokesman for the sheriff’s office, added: “This investigation remains open and active. No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”

Police said they responded to the set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch at about 2pm local time, following emergency calls of a person being shot there.

Rust’s production has been halted.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that Baldwin, 68, was seen Thursday outside the sheriff’s office in tears but refused to comment.

Ms Hutchins, 42, was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer magazine in 2019 and was director of photography on the 2020 action film Archenemy, starring Joe Manganiello.

“I’m so sad about losing Halyna,” said Archenemy director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. “And so infuriated that this could happen on a set.

“She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.”

Rust, which was due to keep filming until November, is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother after his parents’ death in 1800s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database.

The teenager is sentenced to hang for accidentally killing a local rancher and goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather, played by Alec Baldwin.