THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that's when it occurred.
Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.
Mr Irwin was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.
It is understood he was killed instantly.
A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.
A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.
An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.
The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.
Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.
Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.
They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.
The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.
At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''
The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.
Photo and Story thanks to the Courier Mail
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that's when it occurred.
Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.
Mr Irwin was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.
It is understood he was killed instantly.
A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.
A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.
An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.
The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.
Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.
Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.
They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.
The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.
At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''
The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.
Photo and Story thanks to the Courier Mail
