Another Stingray Attack!

October 20, 2006

AN 82-year-old man remains in a critical condition today, a day after being lashed by a stingray's whip-like tail while riding in a small boat on an inland waterway just north of Miami.

US fire and rescue officials had initially said James Bertakis was conscious and expected to make a full recovery after the freak accident on the Florida Intracoastal Waterway, which brought back memories of the Steve Irwin tragedy.

The spotted eagle stingray leapt onto his boat and stabbed him in the chest, leaving its poisonous stinger or barb embedded there.

It has now emerged that part of the stinger lodged in his heart, and Mr Bertakis underwent about 90 minutes of surgery to have it removed.

Michelle Cuello, a spokeswoman for Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, said the operation to remove the 5cm razor-sharp barb went well, but Mr Bertakis remained in critical condition hours later.

The Associated Press today reported doctors eventually pulled the barb through the heart before closing the wound. Other parts of what local media reports have described as the foot-long (30cm) barb had been removed earlier from Mr Bertakis' chest.

"There could be other complications," Ms Cuello said. "His recovery is going to be a slow one because of his age, in particular, but we're just waiting to see."
Crocodile Hunter Irwin, 44, died when a stingray's stinger punctured his heart off Australia's north coast last month.

It was one of only a handful of stingray fatalities on record.