Steve Irwin’s heartbreaking last words were caught on camera.
The Australian zookeeper died on 4 September 2006 when he was injured by a stingray.
And the absolute legend is still remembered by many, with today (15 November) marking Steve Irwin Day which honours and celebrates his life and legacy.
A TV personality, he was known around the world for his work with animals and of course as ‘the Crocodile Hunter’.
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The dad-of-two had done a huge amount of episodes of his popular shows and even made cameos in films like Dr Dolittle 2.
And having made so many documentaries and projects, Irwin had apparently told his camera crew ‘to always be filming’. So, harrowingly, that fatal day in the Great Barrier Reef nearly 20 years ago was captured on film.
Members of his crew who were there have since opened up after witnessing the icon being left in a ‘huge pool of blood’ after the stingray struck.
According to cameraman Justin Lyons, they were filming when the creature suddenly 'started stabbing wildly with its tail’.
In 2014, he told Studio 10 how the usually calm stingray made 'hundreds of strikes in a few seconds', explaining he assumes it mistook Irwin's shadow for 'a tiger shark'.
"I panned with the camera as the stingray swam away, I didn’t even know it had caused any damage," Lyons said.
"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 the cameraman, the stingray left a two-inch-wide gash in Irwin's chest, puncturing his heart and lungs.
And despite frantic efforts to save him, Irwin’s Ocean’s Deadliest cohost Philippe Cousteau Jr told WUFT that 'the wound was too grievous into his heart from the stingray barb'.
"Steve was a great guy, and he died doing what he loved," Cousteau added.
Despite the horror that unfolded, the cameras kept rolling as the star’s crew were reportedly under his strict instruction to continue recording no matter what.
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.
The footage was deemed too distressing to air and having been handed over to authorities, it’s 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, given to Irwin's widow, Terri, who said she never watched it and also ultimately got rid of it.
Topics: Steve Irwin, Australia
Jess Battison