STEVE IRWIN - Stingray a rare villain, but deadly all the same

Australia's The Age.com is one of the hundreds of sites and television stations covering the sudden death of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, the victim of a very rare stingray sting. The barb of the stingray pierced Steve Irwin's heart.

The venom researcher Struan Sutherland (who appeared in Last Chance To See) recounted one similar attach from 60 years ago.

In January 1945, a 33-year-old army sergeant took a dip in Melbourne's St Kilda Baths along with other soldiers.

A powerful swimmer, the soldier died with a nasty slash to his left breast. According to a doctor's notes — recorded by the renowned venom researcher Struan Sutherland in his 2001 book Australian Animal Toxins: The Creatures, Their Toxins, and Care of the Poisoned Patient — the stingray attack was sudden.

The soldier had been seen "swimming strongly from the centre of the baths towards the landing steps", say the notes of a Dr Wright-Smith, who performed the autopsy. The victim then disappeared below the water, resurfaced, waved and sank again.

Full story at the Age.com.

Our sympathies to Steve Irwin's wife and young children.