Man Stabbed In Chest After Stingray Jumps On Boat

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Pharlap

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POSTED: 7:03 am EDT October 19, 2006


LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Fla. -- A Florida man is fighting for his life after a stingray jumped onto his boat and stabbed him in the chest.


A professor of marine biology at the University of Miami said such attacks are so "extraordinarily rare" that she's never heard of one like it.


The victim is an 81-year-old man who was boating with his adult granddaughter and one of her friends. The women were able to steer the boat back to land and call for help.


Rescuers said surgeons were able to remove some of the foot-long barb but not all of it. Open-heart surgery may be necessary.


The roughly five-foot wide, 30-pound stingray died on the boat.


While such incidents are said to be rare, TV's "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was fatally stabbed by a stingray while swimming with them in Australia last month.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/10110120/detail.html
 
Pharlap said:
POSTED: 7:03 am EDT October 19, 2006


LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Fla. -- A Florida man is fighting for his life after a stingray jumped onto his boat and stabbed him in the chest.


A professor of marine biology at the University of Miami said such attacks are so "extraordinarily rare" that she's never heard of one like it.


The victim is an 81-year-old man who was boating with his adult granddaughter and one of her friends. The women were able to steer the boat back to land and call for help.


Rescuers said surgeons were able to remove some of the foot-long barb but not all of it. Open-heart surgery may be necessary.


The roughly five-foot wide, 30-pound stingray died on the boat.


While such incidents are said to be rare, TV's "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was fatally stabbed by a stingray while swimming with them in Australia last month.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/10110120/detail.html
Click to expand...
:eek: :eek:
JUMPED onto the boat? I would like to know how big this boat was-
 
Oh my gosh! I've never heard of such a thing. While it's tragic I can understand how this happened to Steve Irwin, he was swimming with them. This poor old man was in his boat minding his own business. Poor guy. I hope he's gonna be okay.
 
lizzybeth said:
Oh my gosh! I've never heard of such a thing. While it's tragic I can understand how this happened to Steve Irwin, he was swimming with them. This poor old man was in his boat minding his own business. Poor guy. I hope he's gonna be okay.
Click to expand...
So do I...poor man! :(
 
Although the article doesn't explain ...

I would have to guess they had hooked the ray while fishing.
 
Amraann said:
Although the article doesn't explain ...

I would have to guess they had hooked the ray while fishing.
Click to expand...
the media never ceases to amaze me---an article on cnn states the stingray

jumped on the boat and attacked the 81 year old man...:hand:

having hooked him while fishing, good possibility-- maybe even simply freak movement on the rays part gliding thru the water, then when ending up on the boat, his stinger got the gentleman while the ray was flopping around on the boat-
 
I don't think that rays can launch themselves out of the water...they usually just lay or flap along the bottom or sail smoothly along. I've never heard of one jumping. I think it must have been hooked and using the word "attacked" is definitely trying to be dramatic and sensational.
 
sounds like it literally jumped into the boat. incredible!


Bertakis was in a small recreational boat with two grandchildren on Tuesday when the spotted eagle ray leaped aboard and struck him


It's just a real freak thing," Lt. Mike Sullivan said, adding that the incident occurred on Florida's Intercoastal Waterway, where stingrays are rarely seen leaping in the air.


http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=143981
 
The man stabbed by the stingray wasn't fishing for it. By all accounts, the ray really did just fly out of the water. Also, for non-Floridians, Lighthouse Point is about 10 miles north of Fort Lauderdale.

Here's part of the detailed story we have on sun-sentinel.com (article's too long to post)
Man remains 'critical' after stingray jumps in boat and stabs him in heart

By Sofia Santana & Brian Haas
sun-sentinel.com
Posted October 19 2006, 12:30 PM EDT



[font=Verdana,Arial, Helvetica]LIGHTHOUSE POINT -- An 81-year-old resident was in critical condition on Thursday, a day after a spotted eagle stingray jumped onto his boat in the Intracoastal Waterway and stabbed him in the chest, leaving a foot-long barb stuck in his heart, authorities said.

James Bertakis underwent open-heart surgery late Wednesday and early Thursday and doctors were able to remove the barb, which appears to have lodged near or in his heart, by shoving it through the heart, said Dr. Eugene Costantini at Broward General Medical Center. Bertakis also had a partially collapsed lung.[/font]
 
I read somewhere that I struck him while he was trying to get it off the boat.
 
I sure hope this guy makes it!
 
It is an interesting and tragic event.

These spotted eagle stingray commonly do jump out of the water. It landed in his lap, and speared him with his spike as the man started to push him off his lap.

The man had this little girl on board, and his son said his dad knew he had to get that little girl to safety. So screaming in pain from the venom in his system, he somehow got the boat to shore and called 911 himself. He did the right thing, which is why he lived. He didn't try to pull the jagged spike out of his chest.

Actually they called him a hero on the news today. His first thought was for the little girl getting to safety. He might have to have more surgery as there is still part of the spike in his chest. He seems strong thought, despite his age, so I think he will recover.

Scandi
 
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