Steve Irwin Dead From Stingray Barb Injury

Steve Irwin, the   world   famous   Crocodile Hunter, has died today from a stingray barb struck and penetrated his chest. He was filming a documentary on northern Australia when this attack occurred. Steve Irwin has been a noted figure in   popular culture as he had television shows that featured him introducing exotic species to the world while always cheating death.  The phrase “Crickey” has been   associated with   Steve over the years.

A DOCTOR and witnesses have told of the desperate efforts to save Australian icon Steve Irwin after the Crocodile Hunter was struck in the chest by a stingray barb today. Irwin, 44, died this morning after being fatally injured while filming a nature documentary off Queensland. The news has shocked the nation and prompted a rush of tributes from politicians and the public alike. Irwin’s wife Terri was in Tasmania at the time of the tragedy and had to be contacted by police with the terrible news. The couple’s daughter Bindi, 8, was with her father in north Queensland, Irwin’s manager John Stainton said from Cairns. Choking back tears, Mr Stainton said Irwin had gone “over the top of a stingray and a stingray’s barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart”. “He possibly died instantly when the barb hit him, and I don’t think that he … felt any pain.” via  NEWS.com.au.

(ABC News) Irwin had little chance, expert says

Marine experts say television personality and naturalist Steve Irwin had little chance of surviving after being struck in the chest by a stingray’s barb.

Forty-four-year-old Irwin died yesterday morning in far north Queensland while filming for a marine documentary.

Sea World’s marine science director Trevor Long says stingrays have killed a total of 17 people worldwide.

“All of those fatalities have occurred in the trunk of the body,” he said.

(Sydney Morning Herald) Steve Irwin killed by stingray

Friends believe he may have died instantly when struck by a stingray as he   filmed a sequence for his eight-year-old daughter Bindi’s new TV series. Irwin’s friend of 20 years, Ferre De Deyne said Irwin had been struck by the stingray while filming. “The stingray just happened to be swimming around and out of the blue whacked his tail at him,” he said.