Kristie O’Brien was left just inches from disaster after a deadly stingray impaled her while she was swimming in a Florida bay, with surgeons having to remove the stinger which nearly hit her lung
A woman whose close encounter with a deadly stingray saw her impaled is lucky to be alive after the animal missed her lung.
Kristie O’Brien had been wading in knee deep water in Tampa, Florida, United States, when she was stabbed in the back by a Southern stingray.
Her relaxing trip to the beach took a turn when the venomous animal impaled her, with its stinger heading four inches deep inside Kristie, narrowly missing her lung by centimetres.
Ms O’Brien was “certain she was going to die”, with the animal group responsible for the death of infamous Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, back in 2006.
Kristie says she will return to the waters, but not this particular bay (Image: Fox 13) Kristie said: “I was trying to stay as calm as I could. But I was certain that I was going to die because, I mean, like everyone has like this picture of Steve Irwin when he literally was punctured in his chest.
“As soon as I hit the water, I felt like I had been stung by something.”
Her husband found her with the stingray still lodged inside of her, while Kristie knew to leave the beast well alone until paramedics could cut off the tail.
The stingray spine was later cut off at a hospital where Kristie rested for a few days and was treated for a possible poisoning.
The huge stingray stinger was removed at hospital, narrowly missing Kristie’s lung (Image: Fox 13) She added: “It’s still incredibly sore there. It’s like spurts of pain. And they say that’s just because of the toxin that’s actually in the barb of the stingray itself.”
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