Australia’s ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin killed by stingray’s barb
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Oh my God! Im sure many of us has watched the Crocodile Hunter show once in a while before. With his famous Aussie slang, holding poisonous snakes and trying to make fun out of the big crocs a metre away from him. And im sure many of you have heard stupid rumours saying he was beaten to death by a croc few years back. I never believe any of those. Until today i was reading through some news online. And it shocked me to read this guy really died this time.

This is some account from International Herald Tribune 3 hours ago…

Steve Irwin, the ebullient Australian whose catch cry of “Crikey!” helped him rise to global fame as television’s the “Crocodile Hunter,” was killed Monday by a stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

“He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,” said Stainton, who was on board Irwin’s boat, Croc One, at the time.

Crew members called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton said.

“The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet,” Stainton told reporters in Cairns. “He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said, Crocs Rule!”

Irwin was given a scrub python for his sixth birthday and was catching crocodiles by nine, according to details from the zoo. He worked as a crocodile trapper in his 20s, removing problematic animals from populated areas. In 1991, he took over the Australia Zoo when his parents retired.

Stingray’s have a serrated, toxin-loaded bard, or spine, up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) long on top of their tails. The barb flexes reflexively if a ray is frightened, and a sting to a person is usually excruciatingly painful but not deadly, said University of Queensland marine neuroscientist Shaun Collin.

Collin said he suspected Irwin died because the barb pierced under his ribcage and stabbed directly into his heart.

“It was extraordinarily bad luck. It’s not easy to get spined by a stingray and to be killed by one is very rare,” Collin said.