September 4, 2006
GOSH, YOU'D THINK DANGEROUS MARINE LIFE WOULD ENJOY BEING POKED AT....:
Steve Irwin's freak death filmed (Ian Gerard and Tony Koch, September 05, 2006, The Australian)
FOOTAGE of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin being fatally attacked by a stingray on the Great Barrier Reef has been handed to Queensland police as fans worldwide come to grips with the "freak" death.Irwin, 44, was killed almost instantly when the stingray stabbed him in the heart with its poisonous 20cm barb as he snorkelled off Port Douglas, in north Queensland, yesterday morning.
His American-born wife, Terri, was trekking in Tasmania's Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair National Park when the news broke of her husband's death and was last night being raced back to Queensland with her two children Bindi, 8, and Bob, 2.
"The footage shows him swimming in the water, the ray stopped and turned and that was it," said boatowner Peter West, who viewed the footage afterwards.
"There was no blood in the water, it was not that obvious ... something happened with this animal that made it rear and he was at the wrong position at the wrong time and if it hit him anywhere else we would not be talking about a fatality."
Irwin was shooting a documentary on dangerous marine life, in shallow water at Batt Reef, about 32 nautical miles offshore, at about 11am.
Did you know there is no word in Australian for hubris? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 4, 2006 6:39 PM
Most 20-year-olds believe they're 10 feet tall and bulletproof, but they tend to grow out of that illiusion by their 40s. Steve did what he liked and presumably knew the risks he was taking, though someone with an 8-year-old and a 2-year-old at home you would think would have factored in his family a little bit more when he was putting his life on the line for the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.
Posted by: John at September 4, 2006 10:14 PM