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How did Steve Irwin die? The Crocodile Hunter’s tragic death remembered 15 years on

The wildlife enthusiast died in 2006 when he was pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming a wildlife documentary

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Steve Irwin, poses with a three foot long alligator at the San Francisco Zoo in 2002 (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty)
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Known as the “Crocodile Hunter”, Steve Irwin died 15 years ago when he was pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming a wildlife documentary.

Steve had become well-known for wearing his khaki-coloured shorts and shirts, for wrestling with crocodiles and picking up venemous snakes and spiders.

He loved all creatures and would rehabilitate kangaroos, nurse injured animals and take in orphaned animals. 

But during a shoot on 4 September 2006, while he was swimming in shallow waters in the Great Barrier Reef, northern Queensland, he was attacked by a stingray.

The crew were after one final shot of Steve and the stingray swimming away before they finished for the day. 

His cameraman Justin Lyons remembered how a “jagged barb” on the stingray’s tail “went through his chest like hot butter”.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: Naturalists Robert Irwin and Terri Irwin visit the Build Series to discuss Steve Irwin Day and the 2nd season of Crikey: Its the Irwins at Build Studio on November 15, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)
Naturalists Robert Irwin and Terri Irwin visit the Build Series to discuss Steve Irwin Day and the 2nd season of Crikey: Its the Irwins at Build Studio on 15 November 2019 in New York City (Photo: Gary Gershoff/Getty)

He managed to get Steve back to the boat but recalled the presenter’s last moments and his words: “I’m dying”.

Speaking to Australian morning programme Studio 10, he said: “I had the camera and thought this was going to be a great shot. But all a sudden the stingray propped on its front and started stabbing Steve with its tail.

“There were hundreds of strikes within just a few seconds” he added.

Steve was aged 44 and left his wife Terri and two children Bindi and Robert, aged eight and two at the time. 

His death was so sudden it prompted shock reactions around he world. 

The then Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that “Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son”.

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Irwin’s children have since followed in his footsteps. His daughter Bindi, now 23, is a zookeeper and conservationist. She recently shared pictures of her daughter Grace at five-months-old with husband Chandler Powell.

Robert, aged 17, is a wildlife photographer and shares his love for animals on Instagram.

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