His original 'Croc Team' have now spoken out for the first time

He explained the stingray probably thought Irwin’s shadow was a tiger shark and acted to defend itself.

‘It wasn’t until I panned the camera back [and saw] that Steve was standing in a huge pool of blood that I realised something had gone wrong.’
He managed to get the injured wildlife expert back onto the boat, where he saw the extent of his injuries.
He said the stingray had a ‘jagged barb’ which ‘went through his chest like hot butter.’


‘He was in extraordinary pain. [The stingrays] have got venom on their barb, so I’m sure it was excruciatingly painful.

‘As we’re motoring back, I’m screaming at one of the other crew in the boat to put their hand over the wound and we’re saying to him things like, “Think of your kids, Steve. Hang on, hang on, hang on.” ‘He just sort of calmly looked up at me and said, “I’m dying.” And that was the last thing he said.’