A powerful untamed beast of the water — a sting ray — finally nailed Australian wild-kingdom daredevil Steve Irwin, 44, and the poor guy’s dead. An Australian news service is reporting that Irwin “was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest” during an underwater shoot in the water off Cairns, Australia.
“Irwin was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary when the tragedy occured,” the news service report reads. “The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) was called about 11am [Australian time] and an emergency services helicopter was flown to the crew’s boat on Batt Reef, off the coast near Cairns, with a doctor and emergency services paramedic on board.
“Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene.”
It’s sad as hell to report this, but we all know Irwin’s been tempting fate by hunting, stalking and sometimes taunting dangerous wild animals for years. If there was ever a guy whose epitaph deserved to read, “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword,” it’s Irwin. He was mainly a TV guy, but he made a reasonably successful feature with his wife, Terri, called The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, which grossed just under $30 million domestic.