THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas where he had been filming an underwater documentary when it occurred.
Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.
Mr Irwin, 44, was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.
His American wife Terri learned for the tragedy from police in Tasmania, where she had been trekking in Cradle Mountain National Park.
His friend and manager John Stainton said Mr Irwin was filming some segment for daughter Bindi's show on the reef between sessions filiming the main documentary.
It is understood Mr Irwin was killed instantly.
A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.
A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.
An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.
The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.
Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.
Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.
They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.
The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.
At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''
The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.
Irwin was a devoted father to his two children Bindi, 8, and Bob, 3.
"Bindi is the reason I was put on this earth. All I want to do is be with her and all she wants to do is be with me. We have such a great time together and it's not just a father and daughter relationship, it's also like I'm a big brother and she's my little sister,'' he told New Idea magazine in 2005.
However the previous year Irwin had created a furore when he took 'Baby Bob' into Australia Zoo's crocodile enclosure while feeding a four-metre salt water crocodile.
Irwin burst onto the media scene with his documentary The Crocodile Hunter in 1992, and his over-the-top persona soon made him a star. In 2002 he burst on to the big screen on Crocodile Hunter: The Collision Course, soon achieving A-list fame.
His celebrity friends include Russell Crowe.
Despite his worldwide popularity, closer to home Irwin got bad press after he was controversially paid $175,000 for a quarantine ad.
Irwin was named Queenslander of the Year in 2003.
Steve Irwin

 Der australische Dokumentarfilmer Steve Irwin, nach seiner gleichnamigen Fernsehsendung auch „Crocodile Hunter“ genannt, ist heute gegen 11:00 Uhr Ortszeit (03:00 Uhr MESZ) bei einem Unfall ums Leben gekommen.

Der 44-Jährige war für Unterwasser-Dreharbeiten am Great Barrier Reef vor der Nordostküste Australiens bei Port Douglas (Bundesstaat Queensland) unterwegs, als ihn ein Stachelrochen in die Brust stach. Er war bereits tot, als die Rettungskräfte per Hubschrauber eintrafen. Er wurde zur Identifizierung nach Cairns geflogen.

Australische Politiker äußerten ihre Betroffenheit. Premierminister John Howard sagte, er sei schockiert von Irwins plötzlichem und unerwarteten Tod und nannte ihn eine „einmalige Persönlichkeit“.

Nach Angaben seines Managers John Stainton sammelte Irwin zwischen anderen Drehs Material für eine Sendung seiner achtjährigen Tochter Bindi über das Great Barrier Reef. Neben seiner Tochter hinterlässt er seine Frau Terri und seinen dreijährigen Sohn Bob.

Irwins international erfolgreiche Sendung „Crocodile Hunter“ lief auch im deutschen Fernsehen. Die Produktion wurde eingestellt, nachdem Irwin kritisiert worden war, bei Dreharbeiten in der Antarktis Tiere übermäßig gestört zu haben.