Steve Irwin’s doting gesture for daughter Bindi that tragically cost his life

When Steve Irwin took his fateful final trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, it was in search of some of the most dangerous predators of the deep for his series, Ocean’s Deadliest.

But it wouldn’t be some ferocious beast that would claim his life, but a seemingly harmless stingray.

As the pioneering Crocodile Hunter, Steve knew everything there was to know about dangerous creatures.

But given stingrays had killed just two people in Australia since 1945, the father-of-two had no reason to fear the 2.4m wide bull one that sat lazing on the bottom of Batt Reef near Port Douglas.

He had initially started his day looking for tiger sharks with cameraman Justin Lyons, but when he saw the 220lb ray, he reportedly knew it would be perfect for his eight-year-old daughter’s show, Bindi the Jungle Girl.

Friend and manager John Stainton said at the time: “He had been filming for his own show, Ocean’s Deadliest, but suddenly he said he was off to seek out some normally harmless stingrays. It should have been an innocent encounter for a TV show aimed at children.

Together, Steve, 44, and Justin climbed into the chest deep water, expecting the usually placid creature to swim away as Steve approached, giving them the perfect shot.

But instead the animal stood firm. And when ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve passed over the top, it raised its razor-sharp tail, stabbing him ‘hundreds of strikes in a few seconds’.

As it finally swam off, Justin had no idea Steve had been hurt until he saw the blood.

“I panned with the camera as the stingray swam away. I didn’t even know it had caused any damage. It wasn’t until I panned the camera back and Steve was standing in a huge pool of blood that I realised something had gone wrong,” he told Australia’s Network Ten in 2014.

It was widely reported at the time of Steve’s death 14 years ago today that he pulled the barb out of his own chest – a move said to have cost him his life.

But according to Justin, that was wrong. Yes, Steve was in extreme pain from the venom and barb, which can inflict the same kind of wounds as a knife or bayonet. But there was no barb left behind and at the point, they thought Steve had just punctured a lung.

But back on the boat, both saw blood and fluid leaking from a two-inch wide gash across his heart and Steve knew he was in trouble.

“He was having trouble breathing. Even if we’d been able to get him into an emergency ward at that moment we probably wouldn’t have been able to save him, because the damage to his heart was massive,” Justin said.

“As we’re motoring back I’m screaming at one of the other crew in the boat to put their hand over the wound and we’re saying to him things like, ‘Think of your kids, Steve, hang on, hang on, hang on.'”

But despite facing death, the iconic star refused to panic.

“He just sort of calmly looked up at me and said, ‘I’m dying.’ And that was the last thing he said,” Justin added.

Bindi was extremely close to her father and captured the hearts of the world when, still just a child, she paid a heartbreaking tribute to Steve at his funeral.

“My daddy was my hero,” she bravely told mourners at his beloved Australia Zoo.

“I have the best Daddy in the whole world and I will miss him every day. When I see a crocodile I will always think of him and I know that Daddy made this zoo so everyone could come and learn to love all the animals.

“Daddy made this place his whole life and now it’s our turn to help Daddy.”

Now aged 22 and married to fellow conservationist Chandler Powell, Bindi is expecting her first baby. But the pain of the untimely loss of her own dad remains raw to this day.

“I remember people coming up to me and saying, ‘I’m sorry for your loss, sweetheart. Time heals all wounds.’ But that’s just not true,” she said in 2018.

“It’s like losing a part of your heart, and when you’ve lost that, you never get it back.”