Inside Steve Irwin’s mysterious ‘death tape’ which should ‘never be seen’

Today commemorates 17 years since the tragic passing of beloved wildlife expert, Steve Irwin.

Known endearingly as The Crocodile Hunter, Steve met his unfortunate end after being fatally pierced in the heart by a stingray while filming a segment for his daughter’s wildlife show, Bindi the Jungle Girl.

His death triggered an overwhelming wave of sorrow from admirers worldwide.

READ MORE: Steve Irwin’s cameraman exposes Crocodile Hunter’s last words before tragic death

This heartache even sparked a series of retaliatory actions against stingrays along the Australian coastline. These vengeful acts, condemned by the executive director of Steve’s conservation organization, were a response to his untimely death.

Despite Steve’s encounters with crocodiles, snakes, and sharks, he maintained an unwavering rule that the cameras must never stop rolling.

The freak incident that claimed his life near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef was captured on by the camera crew.

However, the whereabouts of this footage remain shrouded in mystery.

“He tells his camera crew to always be filming,” his IMDb biographer Tommy Donovan once said.

“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.”

In a cruel twist of fate, Steve, aged 44, was not meant to be at sea on that ill-fated September 4, 2006. Filming for his show “Ocean’s Deadliest” was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Bored at his hotel with cameraman Justin Lyons and director John Stainton, they embarked on a small boat to Batt Reef off the Port Douglas coast.

John recalled: “Suddenly, he expressed interest in encountering some typically harmless stingrays. It should have been an innocuous encounter for a children’s program.”

Spotting a 220lb ray on the ocean floor, Steve and Justin entered the chest-deep waters, anticipating the usually tranquil creature to swim away upon their approach.

However, upon Steve’s passage over the creature, it raised its serrated tail, striking him with “hundreds of strikes in a few seconds.”

Unaware of the severity, Justin continued to film.

When he turned the camera back to Steve, he saw him surrounded by a pool of blood, recognizing that something was gravely amiss.

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While the cameras captured the unfolding events, Justin assisted Steve onto their inflatable boat, hastening toward the main vessel named Croc One.

Throughout the journey, Steve writhed in agony from the venom.

Both feared a punctured lung, and the crew applied pressure to the substantial wound on Steve’s chest.

Justin recounted: “He was struggling to breathe. Even if we had reached an emergency ward immediately, it’s likely we couldn’t have saved him due to the extensive damage to his heart.”

Urgently, they motored back, with Justin shouting for a crew member to cover the wound.

They implored Steve to hold on, reminding him of his children.

Aware of the gravity of his injuries, the cameras even captured the poignant moment when Steve calmly uttered his final words to Justin, “I’m dying.”

Back on Croc One, another cameraman took over as Justin performed mouth-to-mouth on Steve for an hour until paramedics declared him deceased upon arrival. The stingray attack, the resuscitation efforts, and medical interventions were all captured on film.

In the ensuing days, the footage was handed over to Queensland Police for their inquiries.

Speculation arose that it might be broadcast, but Discovery Communications, the network that propelled Steve to stardom, affirmed that the footage would remain unseen.

John Stainton stated it was far too distressing to ever be shown.

“I mean, it should be destroyed,” he conveyed during an interview with CNN’s Larry King Live.

“Once it’s released [by the coroner], it should never see the light of day. Never. Never. I’ve seen it, but I don’t want to see it again.”

Nonetheless, this didn’t dissuade countless individuals from attempting to locate the distressing footage online.

In 2007, authorities claimed to have eradicated all copies but one, which they entrusted to Steve’s grieving widow, Terri.

While Terri had always been aware of her husband’s wish for his death to be filmed, the existence of such footage was overwhelming.

Without viewing it, she decided to destroy it.

In an interview with You magazine in 2018, Terri explained: “After Steve died, around 100 million viewers watched a fabricated video of his passing that was circulated on YouTube.

“That film was a complete fabrication, exploiting people’s grief.

“I’ve never watched the actual footage. Why would I? I know the circumstances of my husband’s passing.

“I was relieved that our children weren’t on the boat, as they usually would have been. It would have been traumatizing for them to witness it.”

Terri mentioned that, according to her knowledge, a copy still resides in a dusty police vault somewhere.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk