Freak accident of all freak accidents. Woman dies after Sting Ray leaps from water and strikes her

[A HERETIC I AM]

From CNN.Com;

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A woman sunbathing on a boat died after a stingray leaped from the water off the Florida Keys on Thursday and struck her, officials said.


"It's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard," said Jorge Pino of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened."

He said it was not clear whether the 55-year-old Michigan woman died from the blow to her head, from the ray's barb piercing her or from her fall backward.

The accident happened off the coast of Marathon Key, in the Florida Keys about an hour's drive south of Miami. The woman, who was with her husband and children, was taken to the Mariner Hospital in Tavernier, where she was pronounced dead.

Stingray lies dead on the deck of the boat.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/20/stingray/index.html
What are the odds?
Edited to add link to story.

[Selatius]

1. I wasn't aware that stingrays can jump out of water. Now I know. nt

[alfredo]

11. Manta Rays and sting rays jump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjDYKTYNacI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gx74KzHsTM

[flowomo]

2. that is weird.... and so is this one....

MILLERSVILLE, Pa. -- A Columbia man was killed in a freak accident in Lancaster County Monday afternoon.
Barry Myers, 60, was driving on the 500 block of Millersville Road around 1:30 p.m. when a piece of fence fell off a truck in front of him. The wood post crashed through Myers' windshield and impaled him.

http://www.wgal.com/news/15627729/detail.html

[DS1]

5. I don't follow trucks loaded like that. Ever.

[CatWoman]

17. and now glass is falling out of the sky from the damaged buildings

in downtown Atlanta :scared:

[shanti]

9. something like that happened in sac

awhile ago, but it was a piece of rebar.

[flowomo]

10. someday a sting ray will fly off a truck bed....

and cause mayhem and all the weirdnesses will align and the world will end.

[Sequoia]

13. And here's another freak accident:

California woman dies beneath falling hay bales

EUREKA, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say a Yreka woman died after
two, one-ton bales of hay fell on her.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp told the
Record-Searchlight newspaper of Redding that Carol Ann James was
fatally crushed while she was feeding animals in her barn.

The 54-year-old woman was found by her father after he went to
check on her. Authorities say neighbors started CPR, but she could
not be revived.

<snip>

http://www.kfty.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=7292b34c-7509-4b5b-9739-e5a9e56211d2

[Zynx]

15. Oooofff I had a nightmare about something like that. It involved steel rods, however.

[StarryNite]

19. My friend's husband

died instantly when a large rock fell out of the back of a truck and crashed through their windshield.

[girl gone mad]

30. There was a famous director..

who died in a similar type of accident a few years ago. Impaled by a piece of metal falling from a truck in front of his vehicle. I'm always concerned when driving behind trucks which contain loose equipment.

[kath]

33. "the driver of the truck...has not been charged". Why. The. Fuck. Not.???

his negligence KILLED someone.

This kind of "accident" happens way, way, way, too often. Drivers with improperly loaded vehicles should be HEAVILY fined. And if someone dies, it's negligent homicide, manslaughter, or whatever.

[MrCoffee]

3. She should have bought a lotto ticket before setting sail

That is the most random damn thing...

[DS1]

4. Those kids are gonna have nightmares forever

A giant bat thing flies out the water and kills mom.

Cheesus!

[trueblue2007]

6. yeah....horrible story! CNN just made fun of her too.

one of their stupid commenators made light of her death

[AnneD]

29. send them a bitchy note...

I am so tired of tacky crap like that and My resolution is to call folks on it. Shame them if possible.

[Bonobo]

7. And it's not even like Irwin who handled animals all the time so was at risk... Jeez.

[Lance_Boyle]

8. place this one on the list with the billfish-spearing deaths

You go out in their territory, even on top of it, and the aquatic folks can take you out, just like that. Yar, there be monsters there.

[elehhhhna]

12. It was a spotted eagle ray. Very odd.

Snorkelled with one once. Amazing creature.

Hubs swears he saw one leap out of the water like it was flying last April off Rum Point.

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. Yes! I heard that on NPR on the way home. The things can get HUGE!

up to 8 foot span, over 400 pounds and as long as 16 feet including the tail.

Shit, if a full grown one had jumped into the boat it could have killed a couple people.

Gorgeous photo you posted. Thanks.

[elehhhhna]

24. The one I met had a 6 foot wingspan (as have I, lol) and was gliding

slowly by my side. First time snorkelling, ever.

They only have one barb and no teeth (grinding plates, morelike) so once they off one boater (and it seems the woman died from a head injury sustained when she, understandably, fell backwards) all they can do is slap and jaw at you.

Super freaky accident.

I'll be paddling around looking for them in late April. CAN'T WAIT.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Reminds of the bowling ball thrown off the overpass

http://www.injuryhelpline.com/index.rwl?category=news§ion=travel&article=Bowling+ball+thrown+from+overpass+causes+accident++&id=4154

[Zynx]

16. That's probably about the most unlikely form of death out there.

[skids]

22. Well, apparently not...

Don't I recall that right after the Crocodile Hunter got killed by a stingray, someone was widely quoted in the media as saying it was a once in a hundred years accident... and then the next week someone got killed by a stingray?

Make no mistake, the stingrays are out to get us :hide: :-)

[onethatcares]

20. manta rays used to free jump in Tampa Bay years ago,

I wonder if they've killed them off?

[Toasterlad]

21. Funny How We Never Had Sting Rays Killing People Before Bush Took Office...

I'm just sayin'.

[fascisthunter]

23. Now If Only Bush and Cheney Could Go Fishing There (nt)

[marmar]

25. Isn't that how the Crocodile Hunter guy died?

A stringray jumping into a boat?

[DemoTex]

27. He got "stung" in the heart by the ray's poisonous barbed tail.

An uncle of mine stepped on a sting ray in the water and got stung in the calf. It was nasty. The pain is up there with a black widow spider, and the pain management is morphine. But this woman, apparently, was knocked down and not stung.

[alarimer]

26. There is a difference between a stingray and a spotted eagle ray.

Stingrays, to my knowledge, do not leap out the water. But spotted eagle rays do. In fact, what is pictured in the photo is a spotted eagle ray.

Just to nitpick a little. It drives me crazy when mistakes like this are made. They couldn't even ask a marine biologist for a positive ID on the fish in question?

[mnhtnbb]

28. Spotted eagel ray info

Some interesting info about spotted eagle rays.

Pregnant females are said to leap from the water to facilitate giving birth!

http://www.hawaiisfishes.com/fish_of_month/past_fom/fom_01_04.htm

[A HERETIC I AM]

31. I realize the headline is not accurate but it is from the CNN story...

and it was too late to edit by the time I heard it was an Eagle Ray.

[alarimer]

32. I saw the same headline somewhere else earlier

And it happened in another story about fish I saw last month. They were talking about one species but showed a picture of something totally different.