Australian wildlife expert and television personality, Steve Irwin, died on this day in 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming in the Great Barrier Reef. The stinger penetrated his thoracic wall, causing massive trauma. He was at Batt Reef, near Port Douglas, Queensland, taking part in the production of the documentary series Ocean's Deadliest. There was a lull in filming because of inclement weather, so Irwin decided to snorkel in shallow waters while being filmed in an effort to provide footage for his daughter's television program.
"While swimming in chest-deep water, Irwin approached a short-tail stingray, with an approximate span of two meters (6.5 ft), from the rear, in order to film it swimming away. According to the incident's only witness, 'All of a sudden the stingray propped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail. Hundreds of strikes in a few seconds'. Irwin initially believed he only had a punctured lung; however, the stingray's barb pierced his heart, causing him to bleed to death. The stingray's behavior appeared to have been a defensive response to being boxed in. Crew members aboard Irwin's boat administered CPR and rushed him to the nearby Low Isles, where medical staff pronounced him dead."~Wikipedia
Irwin's death is believed to be the only fatality from a stingray captured on video. In 2008, a Michigan woman named Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, was killed when a stingray jumped out of the water and hit her in the head while travelling in a boat going 25 mph in the Florida Keys. Her death was caused by blunt force injury, and not from the stinger.
A month later, an 81-year-old Florida man, James Bertakis, survived after a ray leaped from the water and stung him in the heart, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
"In 2006, a South Florida man was critically injured when a stingray flopped into his boat and stung him. James Bertakis, 82, of Lighthouse Point, underwent surgery after the stingray left a foot-long barb in his heart. He has since recovered." Fox News
It might be a good idea to stay out of the water if you are in Florida.
"Fatal stingray attacks on humans are exceedingly rare. Only two have been reported in Australian waters since 1945. Both victims were stung in the chest, like Irwin. Worldwide, death by stingray is similarly rare, with only one or two fatal attacks reported each year. But non-fatal stingray attacks occur frequently in shallow waters worldwide. These usually involve unwitting waders who step on rays nestled into the sand, hiding from predators. These types of attacks—some 1,500 per year occur in U.S. waters alone—are rarely ever fatal, though the pain from stingray venom is said to be excruciating."~Adam T. Hadhazy
The most dangerous marine creature is not the stingray...not by a long shot. It is not even the dreaded shark. The most dangerous marine creature is the Box Jellyfish
"One box jellyfish contains enough venom to kill up to 60 people, and what makes them even more dangerous is their venom’s speed of acting: the sting of a box jellyfish can kill you in less than five minutes."~Divestock
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