Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter, killed

Steve Irwin, the Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed Monday by a stingray barb during a diving expedition, media reports said.

Irwin, 44, was filming an underwater documentary on the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Queensland state when the accident occurred, Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on its Web site.

"The probable cause of death is stingray strike to the chest," Hamil said. Stingrays are placid fish whose larger species are occasionally known to tolerate the efforts of gung-ho scuba divers to "hitch a ride" by clinging to their fins.

But when the usually non-aggressive creatures feel threatened or are trodden on, they are capable of delivering horrific, agonising injuries by lashing out with the razor-sharp, barbed sting at the end of their tails.
The barbs, which grow out of the bayonet-like sting like fingernails, are designed to snag in the flesh of the ray's unwary victim. Each barb is serrated and can be up to 20cm (8ins) long, and is coated with a paralysing toxin which the ray secretes along two grooves in its tail.

Stingray injuries are common, as the fish are often found around the coastline where people swim and paddle. Most wounds are sustained to the legs or feet when stingrays are trodden on in the shallows. In some cases the stingray’s toxic barb is broken off and remains in the wound, especially when the fish is pulled off the victim.

Fatal attacks, such as the one which today cost the life of Australia's "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, are however almost unheard of.

It is only when the barb enters the body through the chest area, so that the heart or other vital organs are damaged and the poison is administered directly, causing the blood vessels to constrict, that very serious injuries can occur and death is more likely. Article here.

More on Steve Irwin (via):
'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin killed
Crocodile Hunter Website
Steve Irwin's Croc One
YouTube - Steve Irwin sacrifices child
Animal Planet :: The Crocodile Hunter
Steve Irwin - Wikipedia
Steve Irwin - IMDb
Irregular Webcomic: The Steve and Terry Cast
Bush town remembers Irwin
Irwin was one of the greats, says Bellamy