By ninemsn staff and wires
The moment Steve Irwin was fatally struck by a stingray barb was filmed by his TV crew and is now in the hands of Queensland police, according to reports.
It is understood the 44-year-old TV personality was killed almost instantly after being struck by the stingray while filming a sequence for his eight-year-old daughter Bindi's new TV series.
"The footage shows him swimming in the water, the ray stopped and turned and that was it," boatowner Peter West was reported as saying in
The Australian.
"There was no blood in the water, it was not that obvious ... something happened with this animal that made it rear and he was at the wrong position at the wrong time and if it hit him anywhere else we would not be talking about a fatality."
Footage of the attack shows Irwin swimming above a 2.5m stingray before it turns on him and sends a poisonous barb through his heart, the paper reported.
Mr Irwin made his international reputation wrestling crocodiles and snakes.
But the flamboyant naturalist's final confrontation with a wild animal occurred at Batt Reef 32 nautical miles off Port Douglas, where he had been filming a new documentary, Ocean's Deadliest.
Taking time off from the main project, Mr Irwin was swimming in shallow water, snorkelling as his cameraman filmed large bull rays.
"He came over the top of a stingray and the stingray's barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Mr Irwin's friend and manager John Stainton.
"It's likely that he possibly died instantly when the barb hit him, and I don't think that he ... felt any pain.
"He died doing what he loved best."
Mr Irwin's death was only the third known stingray death in Australian waters, said shark and stingray expert Victoria Brims.
Wildlife experts said the normally passive creatures only sting in defence, striking with a bayonet-like barb when they feel threatened.
Ray 'cornered'
Marine documentary maker Ben Cropp, who spoke to one of Mr Irwin's crew, said: "Steve got probably maybe a bit too close to the ray, and with the cameraman in front, the ray must have felt sort of cornered.
"It went into a defensive mode, stopped, turned around and lashed out with its tail, which has a considerable spike on it.
"Unfortunately Steve was directly in its path and he took a fatal wound."
Unconscious, Mr Irwin was pulled aboard his research vessel, Croc One, for a 30-minute dash to Low Isle, where an emergency helicopter had been summoned at about 11am, his Australia Zoo said in a statement.
The crew of the Croc One performed constant CPR during the voyage to Low Isle, but medical staff pronounced Mr Irwin dead about noon.
Mr Irwin's body was flown to a morgue in Cairns, where stunned family and friends were gathering on Monday night.
His American-born wife Terri was told of her husband's death while on a walking tour in Tasmania, and returned to the Sunshine Coast with her two children, Bindi and three-year-old son Bob.
The death of the larger than life Mr Irwin, best known for his catchcry "Crikey!", caused shockwaves around the world, leading TV bulletins in the United States and Britain.
Global phenomenon
He was one of Australia's best known personalities internationally and an ambassador for the nation and its wildlife.
Mr Irwin was also a global phenomenon, making almost 50 documentaries which appeared on the cable TV channel Animal Planet, and which generated books, interactive games and even toy action figures.
Prime Minister John Howard said: "I am quite shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death. It's a huge loss to Australia.
"He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate environmentalist. He brought joy and entertainment and excitement to millions of people."
Mourners laid flowers at the entrance of Mr Irwin's Australia Zoo, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Mr Stainton said bad weather had stopped the filming for their documentary about some of the world's deadliest sea creatures.
Mr Irwin instead decided on a whim to shoot footage for his daughter Bindi's upcoming series.
"He said 'I might just go off and shoot some segments for Bindi's show, just stuff on the reef and little animals," Mr Stainton said.
"I just said fine, anything that would keep him moving and keep his adrenalin going.
"The next thing I heard on the radio was there was a medical emergency, the little dinghy he was in was bringing him back with the crew.
"Everyone tried absolutely tirelessly to revive him to keep him alive, we cut dinghies loose and made it post haste to Low Isle where we knew the chopper would be able to get in, but I think it's possible he probably died at 11am."
Defensive sting
University of Melbourne expert Bryan Fry said stingrays only sting in defence.
"They're not aggressive animals so the animal must have felt threatened. It didn't sting out of aggression, it stung out of fear," said Dr Fry, deputy director of the Australian Venom Research.
He said the stingray would have been up to 2.5 metres across, with a "formidable" jagged barb up to 20cm long, capable of tearing flesh.
"It's not the going in, it's the coming out," Dr Fry said of the serrated barb.
But the stingray's venom would not have been a factor.
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