SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - Fatally injured “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin pulled a stingray’s serrated barb from his chest before he lost consciousness and died, his manager said Tuesday as fans worldwide mourned the exuberant naturalist.
Hundreds of fans placed flowers outside his Australia Zoo in Queensland state and wrote messages on khaki shirts, part of his trademark uniform, as Irwin’s body was flown home after Monday’s freak diving accident off Australia’s northeast coast.
Officials offered Irwin’s grieving family a state funeral while news of his death on the Great Barrier Reef clogged the Internet and ground some Web sites to a halt.
Police have been handed footage taken as Irwin, 44, filmed what was to be his last documentary. It shows him swimming above a stingray when it lashed out and speared him in the heart with its barbed tail, manager John Stainton told reporters.
“He pulled it out and the next minute he’s gone,” he said.
“The cameraman had to shut down. It’s a very hard thing to watch because you’re actually witnessing somebody die … it’s terrible,” Stainton said.
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