KMC Forums - Crocodile Hunter Gone

Shortly after 11:00am local time on 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while diving off Queensland's Great Barrier Reef. The events were caught on camera and the footage is now in the possession of Queensland Police. He had been filming a segment for his daughter Bindi's upcoming television series. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for his daughter's television program.

After reviewing the footage of the incident and speaking to the cameraman who recorded it, documentarian and former shark hunter Ben Cropp speculated that the stingray "felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead..." In such a case, the animal responds by automatically flexing the serrated barb on its tail, which is up to 30 centimeters in length, upward. In this case, the motion struck Irwin's chest and pierced his heart. Crewmembers aboard his boat called emergency services in the nearest city and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later. The BBC reported that this was only the second known fatality in Australian history from a stingray attack, while The Age and CNN lists it as the third.

The Queensland Police Service notified his family and released a statement for the media concerning his death. News of his death prompted a public outpouring expressing shock and loss. Several Australian news websites went down because of high web traffic and talk-back radio experienced a high volume of callers expressing their grief, commemorating his passion and exuberance. Prime Minister John Howard, among many other politicians, expressed his "shock and distress" at the death, saying that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son.� Steve Irwin's body was flown to a morgue in Cairns, where stunned family and friends were gathering on Monday night. His wife Terri was informed of her husband's death while on a walking tour in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania, and returned to the Sunshine Coast with their two children.