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Shortly after 01:00 UTC (11:00 AEST) on September 4, 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray spine whilst snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, at Batt Reef, which is located off the coast of Port Douglas in Queensland. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called The Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for a segment in the television program his daughter Bindi was hosting,[45] when, according to his friend and colleague, John Stainton, he swam too close to one of the stingrays. "He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat the Croc One.

Queensland State Coroner Michael Barnes said police gave the original film of Irwin's death to his wife, Terri, in late December and that all copies of the tape, which was shot during the filming of a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef, had been destroyed.

"The footage has been the subject of widespread media interest and it was wholly appropriate that we took all possible steps to ensure something of such a personal and tragic nature did not fall into the wrong hands," Barnes said in a statement. "This is in line with the wishes of the Irwin family."

Police made a small number of copies of the video to assist their inquiry into the cause of Irwin's death, but they were kept under tight security throughout the investigation, according to an e-mailed statement from the coroner's office.

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