Harrison Ford's Injuries Were Worse Than Everyone Thought

The 72-year-old Han-Solo actor is "lucky to be alive" after the multiple injuries he sustained this year, a source tells PEOPLE

Photo: Jordan Strauss/AP

It seems Harrison Ford‘s injuries over the last year were even more severe than previously reported.

The 72-year-old actor was hospitalized twice in past 10 months – first for a broken leg he sustained when a faulty Star Wars set piece landed on him in June, and then for the multiple traumas he suffered after crash landing his plane on March 5.

Now a source close to Ford tells PEOPLE that both accidents were “much worse than people think.”

While the Han Solo actor was reported to have made a speedy recovery from his broken leg, the source contends, “they downplayed [the incident] but he was really hurt.”

Less than a year later, Ford was back in the hospital – this time for 19 days – after making an emergency crash landing in his vintage plane. The Indiana Jones star sustained a large laceration in his scalp and reported broken bones in his pelvis and ankle.

Considering the seriousness of both accidents, along with Ford’s age, the source says, “he’s lucky to be alive” after having a “really hard year.”

Ford was forced to skip the premiere of his new film The Age of Adaline as he continues to recover from his injuries at home – but the film’s director, Lee Toland Krieger, told the crowd he texted with the actor to “let him know we were thinking about him.”

“This guy is Han Solo and Indiana Jones for a reason. He’s a tough son of a bitch,” Krieger told PEOPLE. “Just the sheer fact that he landed the plane successfully – a 1942 plane that stalls on take-off – is extraordinary in and of itself. He’s as tough as they come.

“I know it will be a full recovery,” he added.