CROCODILE Hunter Steve Irwin has died after a stringray barb caught him in the chest.
The 44-year-old international TV star was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary when the incident happened.
Ambulance officers received a call to a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef. The Queensland Ambulance Service said the call was received about 11am and an emergency services helicopter was flown to the boat with a doctor and emergency services paramedic on board.
Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Irwin leaves his wife Terri and young children Bob and and Bindi.
His wife is understood to be trekking on Cradle Mountain in Tasmania and has yet to be told of her husband's death.
The blonde star of Crocodile Hunter, who made khaki shorts and boots his uniform all year round, was an Australian icon.
But his reptile wrestling antics thrilled overseas audiences even more and he became a fixture on US television in the past decade.
The son of naturalists Bob and Lyn Irwin, Steve learned to live with dangerous reptiles from a young age at the family?s Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park.
He opened his own Australia Zoo in Queensland in 1991, leading him to record the hugely popular Crocodile Hunter the following year.
His catchcry of ?Crikey!? brought the unfashionable Aussie phrase back into vogue.
Irwin?s work had a serious side. He was recently made the face of Australia?s quarantine laws and appeared in TV advertisements urging travellers not to endanger Australia?s unique flora and fauna by bringing in foreign specimens.
For all his love of animals, Irwin?s first duty was to his US-born wife, Terri Reines, who appeared by his side from the very first episode of the Crocodile Hunter. In 1998, their daughter Bindi Sue was born and drafted straight into the family business.
A son, Robert Clarence, was born in 2003 and Irwin made world headlines - and suffered a dent on his popularity - when he carried the baby boy with him whilst hand-feeding crocodiles, leading critics to accuse him of neglect.
In a sign that Irwin?s popularity had outgrown Australia, he went on US network NBS to apologise for taking Bob into the crocodile enclosure.
"If I could relive Friday, mate, I'd go surfing,'' he said. "But I can't go back to Friday ... but you know what, mate?
"Don't think for one second I would ever endanger my babies, mate, because they're the most important thing in my life, just like I was with my mum and dad.''`
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie came to Irwin?s defence, claiming he had done more to promote Queensland in modern times than anyone.
"He has been one of the best ambassadors for Queensland in the modern era,'' Mr Beattie said. "He is known internationally and has been a fantastic advocate.''
Irwin came under fire again in June 2004, when he was accused of getting too close to whales in the Antarctica during filming.
"It's a huge vendetta,'' said Irwin, speaking at his wildlife park in Queensland. "It's a massive agenda not by one or two people but by countless millions of people who support the wearing (of leather) and the sustainable use of wildlife and killing whales.''
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