Steve Irwin’s cameraman caught his heartbreaking last words on camera

Twenty years ago today (4 September), the legendary Steve Iriwn died.

The Crocodile Hunter was swimming in chest-deep water in the Great Barrier Reef while filming nature documentary Ocean’s Deadliest.

But while the camera was rolling off the coast of Port Douglas, Australia, a stingray fatally pierced the 44-year-old’s chest.

This meant Irwin’s final moments and words were all caught on camera, with him having told his crew to ‘always be filming’.

Producer John Stainton said the footage, which will never be made public, was ‘very hard’ to watch as cameraman Justin Lyons told Aussie morning show Studio 10 that the usually gentle creature made 'hundreds of strikes in a few seconds'.

Witnesses said that dad-of-two Irwin looked around ‘calmly’ after the attack as he said that he was dying.

A lot of Irwin's life was documented on film, and so was his death (Fairfax Media via Getty Images/Fairfax Media via Getty Images via Getty Images)

"I panned with the camera as the stingray swam away, I didn’t even know it had caused any damage," Lyons said back in 2014.

"It wasn’t until I panned the camera back, that Steve was standing in a huge pool of blood, that I realised something had gone wrong."

According to Lyons, the stingray left a two-inch-wide gash in Irwin's chest, puncturing his heart and lungs.

Despite frantic efforts to save him, his Ocean’s Deadliest cohost Philippe Cousteau Jr previously told WUFT that 'the wound was too grievous into his heart from the stingray barb'.

The dad pictured underwater during an episode of Ocean’s Deadliest (Discovery Channel)

"Steve was a great guy, and he died doing what he loved," Cousteau said.

Despite the grave situation at hand, the cameras kept rolling when the stingray attacked Irwin, as crews were reportedly under his strict instruction to continue recording no matter what happened.

Irwin's IMDb biographer Tommy Donovan previously said: "He tells his camera crew to always be filming. If he needs help, he will ask for it. Even if he is eaten by a shark or croc, the main thing he wants, is that it be filmed.

"If he died, he would be sad if no one got it on tape."

Those who were present have told how the father-of-two 'calmly' looked around and uttered the words 'I'm dying' before losing consciousness. Sadly, those were Irwin's final words.

This is when cameras were finally cut, according to The Crocodile Hunter producer John Stainton.

Speaking of the last footage obtained of Irwin, Stainton described it as a 'very hard' watch, as 'you're actually witnessing somebody die'.

His widow Terri was given a copy of the video which she later destroyed (Australia Zoo via Getty Images)

"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here [in the chest], and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone," he said. "That was it. The cameraman had to shut down."

The footage was deemed too distressing to air and although it was handed over to authorities, it has never seen the light of day.

Investigators claimed to have destroyed the tapes they were given in 2007 and said there was just one copy remaining - which was given to Irwin's grief-stricken widow, Terri, who said she never watched it and also ultimately got rid of it.