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SYDNEY (Reuters) - Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist who won worldwide acclaim as TV's khaki-clad "Crocodile Hunter", was killed by a stingray barb through the heart while filming a new documentary on Monday.

Irwin, 44, tangled with some of the world's most dangerous animals but he died in an extremely rare attack by a normally placid sea creature while he was diving on a reef off Port Douglas in northern Queensland.

"He came over the top of a stingray and the stingray's barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart," Irwin's shocked manager John Stainton told reporters in Cairns, south of Port Douglas.

A helicopter rushed paramedics to nearby Low Isles where Irwin was taken for treatment, but he was dead before they arrived, emergency officials said.

"It became clear fairly soon that he had non-survivable injuries," Dr. Ed O'Loughlin, who treated Irwin, told Nine Network television.

"He had a penetrating injury to the left front of his chest. He had lost his pulse and wasn't breathing," he said.

Irwin's death was likely only the third recorded fatal stingray attack in Australia, experts said. They said stingray venom was agonizingly painful but not lethal, although the barb was capable of causing horrific injuries like a knife or bayonet.

"It's not the going in, it's the coming out," Australian Venom Research Unit deputy director Dr Bryan Fry told Reuters.

this guy was great... RIP Steve

I just can't believe he's dead - looking at all the crazy stuff he did, the odds of him dying must have been rediculously high, but you just always assumed he'd get away with it. RIP Steve

Wow... I loved that mans energy.... Very informative.....
He was Funny too....He really lived life. Like we all did when we were kids.
He gave us back moments of our youth for the most part and that is what I will miss him for.


Jimmie K.

RIP Steve

+1,for me.Too bad we had to critcise him for that holding the baby while feeding the croc bit,so ridiculous.
Now the animal world has suffered the greatest loss,as someone who triumphed wildlife preservation,was taken by the very wildlife he was protecting.
How bizarre for the accident to happen that way,but being in the medical field,I know ,when it's your time,it's your time.
Rest in Peace,Steve
Yngwie308

Sorry to ask but what is a animal that did this??? Kind of a Ray??

A stingray.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Stin ... uarium.jpg

It's really weird because they're peaceful creatures and usually just shoot away when in danger. Most of the accidents happen when you step on them because they bury in the sand. You step on them and they whip their tail up...it has a barb with poison...like a jellyfish sting...hurts like hell but isn't really fatal. In South Florida, we always did the "florida shuffle" when walking in the ocean...you just sort of shuffle through the shallow sand so you spook them off rather than step on them.

From the reports I've read regarding Irwin, it wasn't the poison it was the barb itself the went into his heart...the poison being pumped into his heart couldn't have helped the situation any. I feel bad for his wife and two little kids...they must be devastated. His staff as well. On the bright side, I guess, he died doing what he loved to do but what a freak accident...I wonder if he was man-handling the ray...I don't necessarily agree with some of his tactics of grabbing animals or pulling them out of holes or whatever....it's really frowned upon in scuba diving.

A string ray or a Manta something like that

I feel bad for Irwin's wife and kids.
What a catch 22. The stinger is in his heart , probably keeping it from
leaking, but also filling him up with poison. Leave it in, and die of poison, pull it out and bleed to death. Supposedly he pulled it out, and died immediately.

By chance, I caught a Stingray a couple years ago while I was fishing down here in Boca Grand, Florida. I'm sure the one I caught was smaller than what they have at the great barrier reef, but boy do they have some nasty barbs on their tail. I took it home, and wanted to test the "scallops are Stingray" rumor, where people say that larger bay scallops you order in restaurant are fake, and are really punched out stingray wings. It didn't taste anything like scallops.
The meat is tougher than the worst cut of beef,is in layers, and so salty that it tastes like it was marinated in seawater. I throw em back ever since.
Yuck...

You're exactly right regarding the Catch-22 situation. A stingray stinger is barbed from top to bottom like a serated tooth or fishing hook. If it pierced Irwin's heart, he would've had to wiggle it back and forth to get it out and more than likely, rupture arteries in the process. With the stress and panic of being punctured, he had a split second to make a decision

I had a double take when I saw the INquirer front page here. All the stuff that guys messes with and he was killed by a sea creature that the most amature of tourists out in the water swim with. Of coarse most people will think 'well he was a risk taker' but to me this accident is just about as freak as a lightning death. Anyone have the figures for stingray deaths? Has to be like 2 in recorded history or something like that. It doesnt happen.

I actually went looking for the numbers when I posted that reply.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html

Well one or two in Australia. Close enough. Freak.

I heard on the news that Austraila has had 3 .. and theres only been 17 worldwide since 1960..

More people have been killed by vending machines falling over on them.

Once his heart was pierced it was all over,unfortunately for Steve,pulling it out made it all the quicker for him to bleed out.
The remoteness of the location,was fatal as well,cardiology is something I know about,so soon as I heard what happened,I knew.
I witnessed much more bizarre and tragic stories in my earlier trauma days.
He should be remembered for his undying enthusiasm and his teaching ability.Children loved him,and they are the keenest critics of all.
We can all learn something from Steve,and the most important thing,is to live for each day,because we never know if it may be our last,in a way.
Good on ya mate,
Yngwie308