Spooked Stingray ...

Sep 5, 2006

Fatally injured by a stingray, Australian Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin pulled its barb out of his chest before losing consciousness and dying, his manager said on Tuesday.

Video footage of the attack shows Irwin swimming above the stingray on the Great Barrier Reef on Monday when it lashed out and speared him in the heart with its barbed tail, manager John Stainton told reporters.

"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest)," Stainton said after watching the footage.

"He pulled it out and the next minute he's gone. The cameraman had to shut down," he said.

"It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die ... it's terrible."

Irwin, 44, the quirky naturalist who won worldwide acclaim as TV's khaki-clad Crocodile Hunter, was filming a new documentary off Australia's north-eastern coast when he was attacked.

Fellow Australian environmental documentary maker Ben Cropp said video of the attack showed Irwin swimming alongside a bull stingray, probably weighing around 100kg, with his cameraman filming in front of the ray.

Marine experts said the stingray must have felt threatened, with Irwin above him and his cameraman in front, and lashed out.

Stingrays are usually placid and only attack in self-defence. Stingray venom is agonisingly painful but not lethal, say marine experts, but the barb is capable of causing horrific injuries like a knife or bayonet.

Stainton said the cameraman only became aware of the attack when he noticed Irwin bleeding.

A helicopter rushed paramedics to nearby Low Isles where Irwin was taken for treatment, but he was dead before they arrived. It was not clear whether Irwin died of cardiac arrest, loss of blood, the ray's venom or all three.

Irwin's death shocked the world.

Australian film star Russell Crowe called Irwin the "ultimate wildlife warrior", and said: "He was the Australian we all aspire to be. He touched my heart. I believed in him. I'll miss him".

Millions had seen him flirt with death many times as he stalked and played with crocodiles, sharks, snakes and spiders.

Known for his catchphrase "Crikey" during close encounters with animals, Irwin made almost 50 documentaries which appeared on the cable TV channel Animal Planet.

Stainton said he was struggling to come to terms with the fact that a stingray, one of the ocean's most placid creatures, had killed his friend.

"There's been a million occasions where both of us held our breath and thought we were lucky to get out of that one," he said. "But he just seemed to have a charmed life."

US-based television company Discovery Communications, which produces Animal Planet, said it would establish a conservation fund in honour of Irwin, called in one tribute "a modern-day Noah", and planned a marathon showing of his programmes.

The footage of Irwin's death has been handed to police, but may never be broadcast, Discovery said.

Australian newspapers paid tribute to Irwin on Tuesday with front-page photographs and stories of his death. Fans including American tourists laid wreaths outside his Australia Zoo in tropical Queensland state.

Newspaper headlines read: "Farewell to the Croc Hunter" and "Farewell to a larrikin adventurer".

"We thought he was Superman, that he was indestructible," said Sydney's The Daily Telegraph editorial.

"We were wrong".