Steve Irwin’s final words were caught on camera and shared by a long-time friend.
Justin Lyon, a friend of the beloved Crocodile Hunter, worked alongside him for a handful of projects – including Ocean’s Deadliest on the Great Barrier Reef in 2006, the documentary where Irwin tragically lost his life.
The duo had been out on the waves when they spotted a giant stingray and decided to start filming it, but things started to get precarious when Irwin said he wanted to get “one last shot” of the creature.
When Irwin was close enough to the stingray, it suddenly stung him in the chest with its tail, hitting him with “hundreds of strikes in a few seconds.”
Steve Irwin passed away in 2006. Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Getty
At first, it was only believed to have punctured a lung, however, after further investigation, it was concluded that it had actually stung his heart.
Speaking to Australia’s Studio 10, Lyon recalled the harrowing incident saying: “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.
He then stated that “[The sting] went through his chest like a hot knife through butter,” before the crew started fumbling around trying to apply pressure onto the area while rushing the Aussie icon to the nearest medical facility.
“It probably thought Steve’s shadow was a tiger shark, who feeds on them pretty regularly, so it started to attack him,” Lyons continued recalling the incident. Watch the interview below:
“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,'” the cameraman added, hoping that the words would prompt Irwin to find some more strength despite the severity of the injury.
“He just sort of calmly looked up at me and said, ‘I’m dying.’ And that was the last thing he said,” Lyons added.
Sadly, he was pronounced dead as soon as he arrived at the hospital.
“We hoped for a miracle. I did CPR on him for over an hour before the medics came, but then they pronounced him dead within 10 seconds of looking at him,” Lyon added.
Irwin, who was 44 at the time, urged the crew to continue filming the incident and the tapes were later passed on to the authorities who opened up an investigation into the matter.
After it was completed, all copies of the harrowing footage were destroyed, except for one which was handed to the conservationalist’s wife, Terri Irwin.
Steve Irwin poses with his family at Australia Zoo on June 19, 2006, a month before his death. Credit: Australia Zoo/Getty
Speaking to You Magazine back in 2018, the heartbroken wife said: “After Steve died, 100 million viewers watched video of his death that was released on YouTube.
She continued: “That film was a complete fabrication exploiting people’s sadness. I have never watched the real footage. Why would I? I know how my husband died and I was relieved that the children weren’t on the boat as they usually would be; it would have been horrendous if they had witnessed it.”
Another friend of Irwin, who also worked alongside him, John Stainton said that the footage of Irwin’s death would “never see the light of day” and admitted he wished he’d never watched it.
