Steve Irwin's heartbreaking final two words revealed 20 years after his death

It's been 20 years since the sudden death of legendary conservationist and TV personality Steve Irwin, as his camera man Justin Lyons reveals his final words after his chest was pierced by a stingray barb.

During the unprovoked attack, Irwin, was filming an underwater documentary while snorkeling at Batt Reef, where he was alongside his crew, including cameraman and producer Justin Lyons, in which they were filming their final scenes.

"We zipped around [in a boat] for 10-15 minutes before we found the stingray. And then, it was like, okay, game on, Lyons recalled of the moment in the new documentary Steve Irwin: A Wild Life.

"I mean, we'd only filmed with stingrays a hundred times before. They were awesome to film with," he said, before recalling seeing the bull ray, which was 'calm'.

He recalled the moment the 44-year-old swam up to the ray, who thought he was a tiger shark, explaining how it 'started stabbing madly towards him with its tail'.

It's been two decades since Irwin's tragic death (Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

"The water just boiled. I couldn't see anything that was going on. Bubbles and thrashing," he emotionally recalled, as Irwin told him it had punctured his lung. Then, Lyons jumped in and pulled Irwin onto the boat.

“He’s conscious, and he says to me, looks me right in the eye, and he says, ‘I’m dying,'" which happened to be his final words.

After 45 minutes of the team performing CPR while they went towards land, they saw helicopters and paramedics waiting. Despite Lyons believing that they'd be able to save his friend, Irwin was declared dead within 10 seconds of them seeing to him.

“I remembered thinking my whole world’s just changed, just like that and it was never the same," he said.

When he tragically passed away in 2006, Irwin left behind his wife Terri and their two children, Robert and Bindi Irwin.

Terri said she had no desire to date after the passing of Steve (Denise Truscello/WireImage)

In a 2024 interview, 18 years after her late husband's death, Terri said she had no no plans to date anybody else.

“I totally got my happily ever after,” Terri told US Weekly.

“And while there are a lot of wonderful men in the world, can you see another Steve Irwin? I just can’t. I’d be like, ‘I love that you’re a librarian and the Dewey Decimal System is cool, but I got to go jump a crocodile and do that.’ Forget that."

Terri, who tied the knot with Steve in 1992, told the outlet that she had 'the best marriage in the whole world for 14 years' and 'was very comfortable with the person I see in the mirror'.

“So I’m okay to be on my own now. And I’m lonely for Steve, but I’m not a lonely person, so I’m very lucky," she said, going on to tell the outlet that her husband would be 'so proud' of what his family had achieved almost two decades on from his death.