The pericardium.

When you've got a foreign-object sticking in you, leave it there!! (exept when in the airways).
Remove it, and there's a large possibility that it will cause a large hemorage (???) leading to death.
In Steve's example, CPR couldn't help him anymore. If what Simon say's is true, he just blead out.

The details are still a bit sketchy on it Jim. Plus, it is very instinctive to pull something out or to get away from the pain source. If it was instinct that did it, it was probably because he knew that it was venomous and was trying to minimize the delivery of the fish venom - he was no dummy. I'll wait to see what the autopsy and video show the coroner. So far I've not heard of him bleeding out. The initial report is that he went into cardiac arrest within a minute of being stung.

As I understand it, there is a rule with regard to anything with a sting that a states that: The closer to the equator you are, the more venomous/potent the sting.

Don't know if thats 100% accurate, but I suspect that it's close enough.

My sincerest sympathy to Steve, his family, and the people of Australia. It is the rare individual, indeed, who can inspire us all as Steve did.

They referred to it as a "large" stingray, which can be six feet (2 meters) across and weigh over 200 lbs (90 kg). No one is going to leave the barb of something that size in his chest, even if it wasn't venomous. Besides, the 'ray itself may have other ideas.

Sue

I went to the Austrailian Survival Forum (AusSurvivalist.com) to see what they were saying. Last evening there were only 6 posts on this, now there are 19, and a surprising number of them are very negative about the Croc Man ("Must have been a slow news day" is the briefest of them). Apparently he was not liked as well in his homeland as he was here. I was not really one of his greatest fans, but "must have been a slow new day" seems pretty cold, even to me...

He was human, like us all. He had his good point's, and his bad. Just like any mortal.
He was successful. They ain't. And only a Coward speaks such ill of the dead.

Well said...

all I've got to say is it's a shame to lose such a person. my best wishes to the family

It will be interesting to see what exactly the immediate cause of death was. If he pulled the stinger from his heart the cause of death might be written as,
a. Penetrating trauma to myocardium due to (or as a consequence of):
b. Stingray barb
Here the physiologic mechanism of death might be exsanguination or tamponade.

If the barb didn't go into heart, maybe,
a. Sudden cardiac death due to (or as a consequence of):
b. Stingray envenomation to chest wall
Here the physiologic mechanism of death might be arrhythmia...

Of course they will write the cause of death differently from what I speculate above.

In the late 80's a 12 year old boy died from chest injury. And in 1945 the first known death in Australia due to stingray occured but I don't know the circumstances.