BONECRUSHER
21-03-08, 11:05 AM
A 34-kilogram stingray killed a Michigan woman when it flew out of the water and struck her face as she rode a boat in the Florida Keys in the United States, officials said.
Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Michigan, was sitting in a boat going at 40kmh when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 1.5 to 1.82 metres, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"It's a bizarre accident," said Jorge Pino, an agent with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The 57-year-old woman's father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, Pino said.
"He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously," Pino said.
The impact likely killed the woman, but it was not immediately clear whether she had any puncture wounds from the ray's barb, Pino said. An autopsy is planned, Pino said.
Local media said the animal's barb had impaled the woman through the neck.
The stingray died from the impact, officials said.
Spotted eagle rays can weigh 227 kilograms and have a wingspan of up to three metres. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail for defence.
The rays are protected in Florida waters and are typically seen swimming on the water's surface.
"Rays jump to escape a predator, give birth and shake off parasites," said Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. "They do not attack people."
"All rays leap out of the water from time to time, but certainly to see one collide with a vessel is extremely unusual," Pino said.
Steve Irwin, the host of the Crocodile Hunter television show was killed by another type of ray while filming underwater on Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 2006.
He died when a stingray's barb pierced his heart.
Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Michigan, was sitting in a boat going at 40kmh when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 1.5 to 1.82 metres, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"It's a bizarre accident," said Jorge Pino, an agent with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The 57-year-old woman's father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, Pino said.
"He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously," Pino said.
The impact likely killed the woman, but it was not immediately clear whether she had any puncture wounds from the ray's barb, Pino said. An autopsy is planned, Pino said.
Local media said the animal's barb had impaled the woman through the neck.
The stingray died from the impact, officials said.
Spotted eagle rays can weigh 227 kilograms and have a wingspan of up to three metres. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail for defence.
The rays are protected in Florida waters and are typically seen swimming on the water's surface.
"Rays jump to escape a predator, give birth and shake off parasites," said Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. "They do not attack people."
"All rays leap out of the water from time to time, but certainly to see one collide with a vessel is extremely unusual," Pino said.
Steve Irwin, the host of the Crocodile Hunter television show was killed by another type of ray while filming underwater on Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 2006.
He died when a stingray's barb pierced his heart.