Posted Oct 19th 2006 9:24AM by TMZ Staff
With the world still saddened by the recent death of Steve Irwin, another man has now been stabbed in the chest by a usually docile stingray, this time in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
What's amazing is that this ray leaped out of the water and into a boat, where it stabbed James Bertakis, an 82 year-old man.
After the three-foot-wide spotted eagle ray flew out of the sea and landed on the boat, Bertakis tried to get it back in the water. That's when "it kind of latched onto him", said Rich Gonzales of Lighthouse Point Fire Rescue.
Bertakis is in critical condition, and doctors are performing what they expect to be a five hour surgery to remove the shard of barb that has migrated to his heart.
Filed under: Wacky & Weird
Tags: stingray
Posted Sep 6th 2006 11:45AM by TMZ Staff
In the first public comments by Steve Irwin's family since his death on Monday, his father thanked his son's many fans for their messages of support.
"There's never been anybody else that I know of that had the personality that Steve had, and the strength, and the conviction of what he believed in," his father told a crowd of news cameras, journalists and well-wishers at the gate of the Australia Zoo. "And his message was conservation, and he was such a strong person that people all over the world believed in him."
Irwin, who described his son as his "best mate ever," reiterated the family's wishes not to have a state funeral, as offered by Prime Minister John Howard, saying, "He's just an ordinary bloke and he wants to be remembered as an ordinary bloke."
Tags: bob irwin, BobIrwin, crocodile hunter, CrocodileHunter, steve irwin, SteveIrwin, stingray
