Crikey!

A Michigan woman was killed on Thursday, March 20^th, when a 75-pound stingray flew out of the water and struck her in the face as she rode in a boat in the Florida Keys.

According to AOL news, Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that Judy Kay Zagorski of Pigeon, Michigan, was sitting in the front seat of the boat, which was going 25 mph when the spotted eagle ray leaped out of the water. The impact knocked the 57-year-old woman back onto the floor of the boat and most likely died from the impact since no barbs were found on her body. The stingray also died after landing on the floor of the boat.

"It's a bizarre accident," said Pino. Zagorski’s father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key. "He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously," Pino said. Zagorski's sister was standing next to her when the stingray appeared but was not injured.

While they may not purposefully attack people, people do suffer injuries from stingrays. According to CBS News, in Lighthouse Point, Florida, 81-year-old boater James Bertakis received a foot-long barb in his chest after a stingray flopped onto his boat and stung him in October 2006. Bertakis was apparently trying to remove the ray from his boat when it stung him.

Lighthouse Point’s acting fire chief David Donzella described it as a “freak accident” and “very odd.” “We still can’t believe it.”

Bertakis underwent surgery to remove the barb, which lodged in or near his heart. While he was in critical condition, he has since fully recovered.

Bertakis’ accident was less than two months after what may be the most publicized stingray attack in the world, the death of TV presenter Steve Irwin, better known as the “Crocodile Hunter.” According to cnn.com, the 44-year-old Irwin was killed when a stingray barb pierced his heart while he was filming an underwater documentary off the north shore of Australia.

Spotted eagle rays can grow to be one of the largest rays in the world, growing up to 17 feet and 500 pounds.

Stingrays are generally docile creatures that use the venomous barb on the end of their tail for defense. While stingrays are known for jumping, they leap from the water for other reasons than aggression. According to AOL news, Lynn Gear, the supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea is Islamorada, explained that stingrays jump to escape predators, give birth and rid themselves of parasites. “They do not attack people,” Gear added. According to Wikipedia, if a stingray is threatened, their primary instinct is to swim away. However, if they are stepped on or feel trapped, they whip their tail up.

Stingrays will often bury themselves in the sand on the ocean floor. If you are in an area where stingrays are common, it's advised that you slide your feet through the sand since stingrays can detect this movement and swim away.