http://www.kcra.com/news/10110164/detail.html
POSTED: 4:23 am PDT October 19, 2006
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—An 82-year-old Florida man was in critical condition Wednesday night after what authorities called a freak accident involving a stingray on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Authorities said James Bertakis was on a boat on the Intracoastal Waterway in Lighthouse Point when the incident happened.
“This ray leaped into a boat that a gentleman was just cruising on the Intracoastal like every ordinary family does, and apparently he tried to remove it from his boat and it kind of latched onto him,” said Rich Gonzalez of Lighthouse Point Fire Rescue.
The stingray left a foot-long barb in Bertakis’ chest. He 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. He was rushed to Broward General Hospital.
“The patient was in a lot of distress, a lot of pain—very freak accident,” Gonzalez said.
Authorities said a 3-foot-wide spotted eagle ray recovered at the scene is believed to be the culprit.
Experts said stingrays are usually docile animals, but last month, TV personality and conservationist Steve Irwin, also known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed when a stingray’s barb punctured his heart.
“They don’t go out to hurt anybody, these things right here. People say they’re safe. People swim with them. It just happened that (Bertakis) ended up getting barbed in the chest,” Gonzalez said.
Doctors removed most of the barb quickly but they said that when the ray fired the barb, a piece went into Bertakis’ chest, migrated into his lungs and went into his heart. Doctors said they found the piece of barb, and now Bertakis is undergoing surgery that is expected to last for at least five hours.
