A LIFE-long friend of Steve Irwin today told how the Crocodile Hunter pulled a deadly stingray barb from his own chest before losing consciousness and dying.
Friend John Stainton said he had viewed footage of his friend's last moments and the images were "shocking".
"It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die ... and it's terrible," he said.
"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone.
"That was it. The cameraman had to shut down."
Irwin, 44, was filming a television program on the Great Barrier Reef off far north Queensland when the drama unfolded yesterday.
Mr Stainton said Irwin's wife, Terri, who rushed to Queensland from a holiday in Tasmania after being told of the tragedy, was putting on a brave face for the sake of her children.
"I think she's being very strong," he said in Cairns, where Irwin's body has been taken.
"I think for the children's sake she has to be strong because they're at a very impressionable age, as you know.
"Bindi's eight and little Robert's coming up to three, so he may not totally understand, but Bindi certainly does.
"She's very mindful of how she has to control her emotions to get the kids through it."
Terri Irwin remained at the family home on the Sunshine Coast with her children today and Mr Stainton said she had no plans to go to Cairns.
The loss of an Australian icon has made headlines around the world and sparked tributes from all walks of life, with NEWS.com.au readers among the many keen to pass on their condolences.
Irwin was killed while shooting footage for a new show he was doing with Bindi.
Terri would have the final say on whether film from the project was made public, the head of the US TV company that broadcasts his show said today.
Film of the death has already been handed to Queensland police preparing a report for the Coroner.
Billy Campbell, the president of Discovery Networks, which owns the Animal Planet channel, said talks on the footage would take place with Terri at a suitable time.
"It's still too early," Mr Campbell said. "We'll have to take a look at it."
Mr Campbell, who will fly to Australia for Irwin's funeral, said he would also ask Terri whether she would like Bindi's show to go ahead.
"In terms of the Bindi show, a lot of that will depend on the conversations I have with Terri in a couple of days," he said.
"I want to give her a few days to mourn and think through things. "We'll talk about that in due time.
"Should they want to move forward, then definitely we will move forward."
Irwin was killed almost instantly when the stingray stabbed him in the heart with its poisonous 20cm barb as he snorkelled off Port Douglas.
He was pulled from the water by a cameraman and a crewman, put on an inflatable tender and taken to a support boat about 500m away.
Crewmembers said he was barely conscious in the minutes after the sting, but died as his production team rushed him to his vessel, Croc One, and to a nearby island for emergency treatment.
A charter dive boat crew desperately tried to revive him on the beach, but were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards by Queensland Rescue Service officers, who had flown to the area by helicopter.
Irwin's body was last night flown to Cairns where a post-mortem confirmed the cause of death.
"We're not going into the detail but there's definitely no surprises. Everyone knows how he died," a police spokeswoman said.
One of Irwin's contemporaries, internationally known cameraman and spearfisherman Ben Cropp, was in his own boat off Port Douglas when Irwin was killed.
Mr Cropp said the stingray was spooked and went into defensive mood.
"It probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked.
"It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike.
"Steve unfortunately was in a bad position and copped it.
"I have had that happen to me, and I can visualise it - when a ray goes into defensive, you get out of the way.
"Steve was so close he could not get away, so if you can imagine it - being right beside the ray and it swinging its spine upwards from underneath Steve - and it hit him.
"I have seen that sort of reaction with rays - with their tail breaking the water, such is the force."
Surf Lifesavers national marine stinger adviser Lisa-Ann Gershwin said there had only been 17 fatal stingray attacks worldwide. "I think it's just an extraordinary freak accident that has happened to his heart," she said.
"A lot of people will be afraid by this, but they need to keep in mind that this was a freak accident, it was a terrible tragedy but it is not common."
Dr Gershwin said stingray stings to the legs or arms were common and, while painful, were not normally considered dangerous. She said there were many different types of stingrays, with barbs on their tails up to 30cm long, and they poisoned victims with a range of toxins.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20349888-2,00.html
With wife Terri, son Bob and daughter Bindi
Last message: We love you daddy
WITH the family at opposite ends of Australia, Terri Irwin was desperate for Bindi and Bob to send a Father's Day message to dad Steve.
Trekking in the Tasmanian wilderness and out of range for a telephone call, Terri finally got this text message through: "The children send their love.''
The text was sent to Steve on Father's Day - the day before he was fatally stabbed by a stingray.
The family was feeling the pain of separation and, after several tries, Terri got through to her husband's mobile phone.
Tragically, he missed the call.
"We missed a phone call on the boat from Terri and the children on the Sunday because the communication was really patchy,'' Irwin's close friend and film producer John Stainton said yesterday.
"I had an SMS on my phone for him from her saying the children send their love and that was all.''
Irwin's body was flown from Cairns to the Sunshine Coast yesterday, where Terri grieved at the family home with their daughter Bindi, 8, and son Bob, 2.
Stainton said Irwin - a fighter to the end - pulled the 20cm stingray barb from his own chest moments before he died from a suspected heart attack brought on by blood loss.
Irwin's horrific last moments were caught on video, which Stainton described as "shocking'' and "traumatic''.
The footage of Mr Irwin's death may never be shown to the public, said Discovery Networks, which owns the cable TV channel that screens Irwin's documentaries.
"It's still too early - we'll have to take a look at it,'' said Discovery president Billy Campbell.
Mr Stainton said he and Irwin agreed that the ocean was a greater threat than the rivers where he made his name trapping crocodiles.
"If ever he was going to go, we always said it was going to be the ocean,'' he said. "On land he was agile, quick-thinking, quick-moving and the ocean puts another element there that you have no control over.''
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said Irwin would be accorded a state funeral, but the final decision will be left to his wife Terri.
The Irwin family had spent August in far north Queensland trapping crocodiles. Terri and the children had travelled to Tasmania on a separate wildlife project, while Steve stayed to film a documentary based around daughter Bindi.
Before they parted, Irwin was researching the migrating habits of crocodiles in far north Queensland - the sort of project that had earned the Crocodile Hunter his world-famous nickname.
Irwin tagged a world record 49 crocs in 32 days.
"Bindi and Bob were up here for the whole five weeks ... and Bob would go out with Steve,'' Stainton said.
"At night when they went home they'd watch Bob and he had a toy crocodile. He'd jump on the croc and call for Bindi to get on the back and he'd take the head and then he'd call for Terri to get the top jaw.
"At almost three he's taking it all in. He could very well follow his dad.''
Irwin and his crew then flew to Port Douglas to film for a series, Ocean's Deadliest, that was to premiere on US television next year.
Stainton recalled that Irwin then made a confession. "Steve said to me on the boat ... 'John, I've had the best month of my life','' he said.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/stor...5001021,00.html
He was so cool!!! He'll be missed lots!!
