Brisbane: Steve Irwin, the Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed on Monday by a stingray during a diving expedition, Australian media said. He was 44.
Irwin was filming an underwater documentary on the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Queensland state when the accident occurred, Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on its website.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp said Irwin was diving near Low Isles near the resort town of Port Douglas.
A helicopter carrying paramedics flew to the island, but he died from a stingray barb to the heart, ABC reported on its Web site.
Telephone calls to Australia Zoo, Irwin's zoo in southern Queensland, were not immediately answered.
Irwin is famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his catchcry "Crikey!" in his television program Crocodile Hunter, which was first broadcast in Australia in 1992 and has aired around the world on the Discovery channel.
He rode his image into a feature film, and developed the Australia Zoo as a tourist attraction.
Irwin had received some negative publicity in recent years. In January 2004, he stunned onlookers at his Australia Zoo reptile park by carrying his 1-year-old son into a crocodile pen during a wildlife show. He tucked the infant under one arm while tossing the 13-foot reptile a piece of meat with the other.
Authorities declined to charge Irwin for violating safety regulations.
Later that year, he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary.
Irwin denied any wrongdoing, and an Australian Environment Department investigation recommended no action be taken against him.
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Colourful and controversial:
Australian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin died on Monday after a stingray barb pierced his chest as he was filming a underwater documentary.
Here are some facts about the iconic naturalist and broadcaster:
Irwin was born on February 22, 1962, in the southern Australian city of Melbourne and moved to tropical Queensland state where his parents ran a small reptile and fauna park.
He grew up near crocodiles, trapping and removing them from populated areas and releasing them in his parent's park.
Irwin took over the park in 1991 and renamed it the "Australia Zoo". He met his US-born wife Terri at the zoo and the footage of their honeymoon, which they spent trapping crocodiles, formed the basis of his first "Crocodile Hunter" documentary. The shows had a worldwide audience of 200 million, or 10 times the population of Australia.
Irwin went on to make 46 of the popular documentaries which appeared on cable TV channel "Animal Planet", as well as more than 20 episodes of "The Crocodile Hunter Diaries". In 2001, he appeared alongside Eddie Murphy in the Hollywood movie Dr Dolittle 2.
While popular with television audiences the world over, Irwin also courted controversy. In 2004, he was widely condemned for feeding a snapping crocodile at his zoo while holding his then one-month-old baby son. Later the same year, he was also criticized for disturbing whales, seals and penguins while filming in Antarctica. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the Australian government's environment department.
Irwin was a guest at a barbecue in 2003 given by Australian Prime Minister John Howard for visiting US President George W. Bush in Canberra.
In June 2006, a tortoise named Harriet, one of the world's oldest animals, died at Irwin's zoo. The Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise was widely believed to have been collected by British scientist Charles Darwin in 1835, Some historians dispute this.
Irwin, who caught his first crocodile at the age of nine, had many close calls with rare and dangerous animals, crawling through forests and rivers around the world. He boasted that he had never been bitten by a venomous snake or seriously bitten by a crocodile, although admitted his worst injuries had been inflicted by parrots.
"I don't know what it is with parrots but they always bite me," Irwin once said. "A cockatoo once tried to rip the end of my nose off. I don't know what they've got against me."
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