“Fifteen seconds of mad struggle”: Cameraman tells of Steve Irwin’s final moments near Port Douglas
CROC HUNTER
IT has been a decade since Australia icon Steve Irwin was killed off the coast of Port Douglas while shooting a documentary.
Irwin was in Port Douglas to shoot Oceans Deadliest near Batt Reef when tragedy struck in the form of a stingray barb.
In a raw interview with Who Magazine, Irwin’s cameraman Justin Lyon has described the crocodile legends final hours.
“Steve was in a great mood,” Lyon said.
Irwin had been catching fresh fish to use as bait to lure tiger sharks. When they failed to attract any large sharks “Steve said he’d had enough.”
“He said, ‘I’m going for a burl.’ So I said, ‘wait for me.’ I threw the camera in and off we went in a little inflatable," Lyon recalls.
It wasn’t long before Irwin spotted a large bull ray stingray, and wearing his famous khaki shirt and shorts he dived in.
Free diving, he managed to get within a metre of the animal, which was swimming on the ocean floor.
“And then I started filming,” Lyon said.
“We got a lot of great shots. I was in a perfect position, only 6 foot [1.8m] in front, Steve in shot, and the stingray, it just started stabbing upwards with its tail. Steve, above it, was thrashing about with his hands. It was a flurry of bubbles. Fifteen seconds of mad struggle.
“Steve stood up out of the water and started screaming at Brian to come over. He was screaming, “Get over here, it’s punctured me lung.”
It had, in fact, punctured his heart and the crew tried desperately to rush Irwin to Low Island for emergency treatment, 25km from Port Douglas.
The 44-year-old died before they got there. This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of his death.
