Sep 24, 2006, 14:03 GMT
Sydney - Australians who earn their living taking tourists to see the Great Barrier Reef were Sunday agonizing over fears the death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin will take its toll on the billion-dollar industry.
Irwin, 44, died September 4 after a stingray plunged its barb into his chest when he was snorkelling off Cairns in far-north Queensland.
'It's a fantastic experience and don't let this accident put you off,' said Col McKenzie, chairman of the Association of Marine Park Tourist Operators. 'I think the vast majority of people have just taken it, and accepted the fact that it's just one of those very rare occurrences.'
McKenzie compared the risk of being killed by a fish while snorkelling to being hit by lightning. 'Most of the animals that we see in the water are fairly happy just simply to ignore humans, and if they feel at all pressured they'll swim away,' he told national broadcaster ABC.
McKenzie said the industry would be as one in opposing a requirement for snorkellers to don the expensive chain-mail safety suits that some have taken to wearing.
'Any move would have a major impact and we would lobby the government against it,' he said. 'We take 2 million tourists a year to the reef, and have done for 10 years, and we've never had an accident.'
Tourism operators are worried about the recommendations of two separate inquiries into Irwin's death. Only 17 people worldwide have been killed by stingrays since records were kept. There have been only three fatalities in Australia.
Although Irwin's body has been buried, authorities have yet to release the findings of an autopsy or say whether he succumbed to the wound, from blood loss, or from the toxins in the poisonous barb.
McKenzie is clearly worried that tourists will take their cue from Hollywood actor Debra Messing, who said on her arrival in Australia last week that she would be insisting on a body double if there were filming in the ocean. Will and Grace star Messing, set to film a mini-series next month, admitted Irwin's death had left her paranoid about Australian waters.
Meanwhile, the nurse who tried to revive Irwin has spoken for the first time about frantic efforts to save his life. Enid Traill said there was never any possibility he could survive.
'I knew it was a terrible situation because we couldn't get any air into his lungs,' she said. 'We worked on him for 10 minutes and then the paramedics arrived and examined the hole in his heart. They said he wouldn't have survived even if it had happened in an operating theatre.'
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