Everybody who met Steve was impressed with his energy and his enthusiasm, he was a real Aussie larrikin.'

Queensland tourism minister, Margaret Keech, told Sky TV: 'It's a dreadful loss for the tourism industry and for nature conservation. News of Mr Irwin's death shocked ordinary Australians, while government and opposition politicians issued statements of condolence within two hours of the first reports of his death. If it hits any vital organs it's as deadly as a bayonet.' He told Southern Cross Broadcasting radio: 'They have one or two barbs in the tails which are not only coated in toxic material but are also like a bayonet, like a bayonet on a rifle. 'He probably died from a cardiac arrest from the injury.'Īustralian wildlife filmmaker David Ireland said he was shocked and saddened by Irwin's death, adding that a stingray's barb could be as deadly as a rifle bayonet. 'Steve was hit by a stingray in the chest,' said local diving operator Steve Edmondson. Medical staff pronounced him dead at about midday.

The crew on the naturalist's boat, Croc One, called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and tried to resuscitate him en route to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter.īut he died before the paramedics arrived, police said. 'With each encounter we learn more about this amazing animal and there is no doubt - we now treat this normally docile giant with the same respect once reserved for dangerous marine animals,' he added.He was stung at about 11am (0200 BST), according to a statement from his wildlife park Australia Zoo. There are many species at Batt Reef some nearly 2 metres in diameter and weighing in excess of 200kg,' he said. Until Steve's death we paid little attention to stingrays. 'Like so many I was one who didn't truly appreciate the significance of Steve and his work until it was too late. West, an underwater cameraman, returned to Batt Reef on Monday night to pay quiet homage to the memory of Irwin, and to film the big bull rays that claimed his life. The vicinity of the wound, the amount of blood he had already lost and the apparent lack of vital signs,' he added. It didn't take any time for me to realise the seriousness of the situation. 'The driver told me Steve had been ' hit by a stingray'. 'I could see Steve slumped in the arms of his other crew member,' West said. He was pulled from the water by the cameraman and a member of the crew, and taken to the Deepstar about 500m away. The tragedy struck when Irwin was shooting the documentary Deadly Sea Creatures on Batt Reef.

Steve irwin footage of death