Street performer catches fire in Melbourne

Emergency crews helping the woman onto a stretcher. Photo / Ahron Young Twitter

A street performer has caught fire after a stunt went badly wrong.

Emergency crews were called to the scene after the performer was injured during the stunt at Freshwater Place on Melbourne's Southbank, Sky News reported.

Sky reporter Ahron Young tweeted that screaming could be heard from the office and dozens of people rushed to help the woman by tipping water on her.

He said ambulance crews and firefighters were called to the scene.

Young said people were desperately trying to put out the flames with their waterbottles and that he couldn't believe the scene unfolding before his eyes.

He also said the injured woman was able to walk herself to a nearby ambulance and lie down on a stretcher and was treated there before being taken to hospital.

The scene right now. Paramedics and police just arrived @SkyNewsAust pic.twitter.com/sDJGNkl8vt

— Ahron Young (@AhronYoung) May 16, 2016

"I can't stress the amount of screaming she was doing, it was terrifying. I've never heard screaming like that before," he told Sky News.

Office worker Jack Jopling witnessed the accident and told The Herald Sun the performer was balancing candles on her body when one caught her clothing.

"At the start we thought it was part of the act but then she started screaming," he said.

A spokeswoman for Ambulance Victoria told news.com.au paramedics were called to the scene after reports of a person on fire about 12.30pm.

"Crews assisted a woman in her 20s," she said.

"She suffered burns to her back and leg and was taken to The Alfred Hospital in a serious condition."