According to another report from AOL, the ray that got him had a barb 10 inches long, and as Steve approached above the animal, it got startled, and stuck Steve. The barb peirced Steve’s heart, which was ultimately the cause of death. A highly unusual occurence. People rarely die from ray stings. This was a one in a million freakish event that it got his heart. Unbelieveable.
Somehow I doubt that if a million people when to swim in that same area, only one would die. But again, regardless of the odds, the more you gamble, the greater your odds of eventually losing. As you said, these things aren’t wandering around on the street.
Heres a video report on it, look for the launch button on the right. BTW, I had totally forgotten the bit about him taking his infant with him to feed the crocs. That really does seem wrong to me; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14663786/
Regardless of any of that though, certainly he was a great wildlife ambassador.
Loren
Stingrays don’t usually attack but then people don’t usually pursue them either and they can feel threatened by mere curiosity. If they decide to strike you haven’t much chance although there have only been about 30 reported stingray deaths worldwide and many, many people get stung or otherwise have a close encounter.
He actually wasn’t as universally loved in Australia as you might think. As an Australian of a certain kind he was beyond caricature and, frankly, many Aussies found him embarrassing. He was so obviously the out-of-control ocker that I quite liked him in something like the way you can’t help liking an over excited dog. But I don’t much like my country to be best known in other countries for its overgrown schoolboys and that is a widespread opinion. That said, his death in these unusual circumstances is very sad. But, like Loren, I’ve been expecting it. Australia is unforgiving of those who tempt fate the way he did.
See: ironic i.e., everyone expects a guy to die from falling off
a tightrope, so instead he dies from autoerotic aesfixiation.
The perversity of the universe tends toward a maximum.
That’s the part that gets me. I didn’t know rays could use that much
force, or that their barbs could get that big. The ones I swam with
in the Virgin Islands were much smaller. Australia is a place of
craziness.
Uh, wow.
He sure went out in a style befitting of him.
Poor soul.
May he rest in peace!
The variety of stingray Steve was diving with are considerably larger, with considerably larger barbs. They are very strong, and though they tend to be placid, it isn’t a good idea to frighten them or put them into a situation where they feel threatened or need to defend themselves. Apparently, this ray felt threatened.
A huge loss, regardless of what some may feel about tempting fate. Each time one gets into a car, or onto a plane or what have you, you are tempting fate. There have been way more deaths due to auto wrecks, than there have been while filming rays in the Great Barrier Reef.
And yet, I will be more afraid of diving in the GBR than driving in my
car. What fools we mortals be.
A stingray? A stingray??
How the hell do you get stung in the chest by a stingray? Was he trying to give it a hug or something?
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I figured that guy would be eaten by a giant python or bitten in half by a crocodile or something.
I feel sorry for his wife and children though. 
As will I. When you give it some thought, when we enter the oceans, we are actually becoming the “special of the day” for its diners… you know, the land-food special.
Well, if it was going fast enough…
Sad news. For myself, I never quite got into him–most of the time he seemed a dope to me. He was forever chasing a giant lizard up a tree and then saying, “It seems upset! Something’s got it upset!” Still, he was entertaining and it’s sad to see anybody killed in such a tragic, bizarre way.
Susan
of course, it’s terribly sad when someone dies, no matter the circumstances or what one thought of the person…
But…
I still remember the time he did a show from somewhere in the Smokies. He kinda crouched down in some leaves near a rock, when suddenly he looks down and says “I’m in a nest of copperheads!”
Geesh! My kids knew from the time they were 2 years old where to NOT go when hiking in the hills because of copperheads, and how to be extra cautious.
I am NOT surprised it was some weird circumstance that did him in. He took way too many chances.
Turns out he was filling an ANIMAL PLANET documentary on the most deadly or dangerous something or other. But, the irony is that he decided to shoot scene for a children’s show that he was working on as a side project. It sounds as though he wasn’t even deliberately interacting with the stingray. Sounds completely freakish.
Yeah, I thought a croc would do him in too. Man, this sucks. I remember the first two shows I watched on cable/satellite TV (I didn’t move into that evolution of TV-watching until late) were the first [re-runed] episode of South Park, and The Crocodile Hunter. He’d been a part of my regular TV viewing ever since. I got sad when his dog would get hurt and stuff. And to think, a stingray did him in. Just goes to show…even the simplest of things can have drastic consequences. Next time I’m scuba diving…I think I’m wearing some kevlar or something. My heart goes out to his family, the Aussie zoo, and the rest of Australia, and the world… he will be greatly missed. CRIKEY!!!
Rest in Peace
It’s already documented in Wikipedia!
Sure, but I always expected something obviously deadly would get him. A poisonous snake, or a croc…or perhaps a parachute not opening…something dramatic. Sting ray stings are almost never fatal, and he wasn’t even handling the ray…just happened to swim over it as it lay hidden in the sand. According to the articles, the animal felt boxed in and lashed out instinctively, catching Irwin in the one place where such a sting might be deadly…in the chest. Even Jack Hanna said it was a once-in-a-million accident. That’s what’s so stunning.
Redwolf
A close up of a stingray’s stinging barb:
I heard the filming crew’s camera is what startled the creature.
Well, yes, but how many times have people filmed rays in the Great Barrier Reef?
There have been millions of auto trips, but only a couple ray-filming episodes.
If you compared only raw numbers of deaths resulting from two activities, you would find that skydiving without a working parachute was safer than riding in a car.
You cannot compare these activities until you adjust the numbers.