Irwin pulled barb out of chest before death By Paul Tait
2 hours, 41 minutes ago
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Fatally injured "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin pulled a stingray's serrated barb from his chest before he lost consciousness and died, his manager said on Tuesday as fans worldwide mourned the exuberant naturalist.
Hundreds of fans placed flowers outside his Australia Zoo in Queensland state and wrote messages on khaki shirts, part of his trademark uniform, as Irwin's body was flown home after Monday's freak diving accident off Australia's northeast coast.
Officials offered Irwin's grieving family a state funeral while news of his death on the Great Barrier Reef clogged Internet news sites and ground some Web sites to a halt.
Police have been handed footage taken as Irwin, 44, filmed what was to be his last documentary. It shows him swimming above a stingray when it lashed out and speared him in the heart with its barbed tail, manager John Stainton told reporters.
"He pulled it out and the next minute he's gone," he said.
"The cameraman had to shut down. It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die ... it's terrible," Stainton said.
Police said it appeared Irwin was just watching the ray.
"There is no evidence that Mr Irwin was intimidating or threatening the stingray," Queensland police spokesman Mike Keating told reporters.
Marine experts say stingrays can deliver horrific, agonizing injuries from the toxin-laden barbs, which can measure up to 20 cm (8 in) in length and cause injuries like a knife or bayonet.
"It's not the going in that causes the damage, it's the coming out where those deep serrations kind of pull on the flesh, and you end up with a very jagged tear which is quite a pronounced injury," said Dr Bryan Fry, deputy director of the Australian Venom Research Unit.
