Woman IMPALED by stingray on Florida beach could have suffered same fate as Steve Irwin after barb buried deep into her back – missing her lungs by just four inches

A Florida woman had a brush with death reminiscent to famed Australian Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin after a stingray impaled her back on a Tampa beach – missing her lungs by just four inches. 

Kristie O’Brien was visiting Ruskin’s Bahia Beach with her husband Thomas to escape the sweltering heat when she went for a swim and felt a stinging sensation in her back.

When she stood up, a huge stingray barb was protruding from her shoulder with horrific pictures from hospital revealing how lucky she was to live.

She was rushed to St Joseph’s Main hospital in Tamps where the trauma team removed the barb and treated her to counter the venom. 

A Florida woman had a brush with death reminiscent to famed Australian Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin after a stingray impaled her back on a Tampa beach – missing her lungs by just four inches

 The travel nurse will remain in hospital for another week due to the risk of infection

Paramedics freed O’Brien in the water using shears to cut the stingray at the base of its tail.

‘Yesterday while I was a Little Harbor in Apollo Beach I was impaled by a stingray’ O’Brien wrote on Instagram. 

‘This stingray tried to pull a Steve Irwin, and almost pierced my lung. A near miss by only a few inches.

‘I have never been so scared and actually thought I was going to die, but Thomas was by my side and kept me calm’ she added.

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O’Brien is currently in hospital where she will remain for a further 7 days to ensure she did not pick up a bacterial infection from the water.

The incident was reminiscent of the shocking and tragic death of Australia’s Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin.

Irwin was killed by a stingray in 2006 while filming in the Great Barrier Reef. 

O’Brien (middle) was visiting the beach with her husband Thomas (right)

The terrifying incident occurred at Ruskin’s Bahia Beach, Florida 

The incident was reminiscent of the shocking and tragic death of television’s Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin

Irwin was killed by a stingray in 2006 while filming in the Great Barrier Reef

‘It is still incredibly sore, like spurts of pain and they say that’s just because of the toxin that is in the barb of the stingray itself’ she told Fox13. 

‘It went through muscle where the puncture actually was, and there are still toxins there.

As a longtime Florida resident, O’Brien said she is not afraid of getting back into the water.

‘I’ll go back in the water again, probably (just) not in the bay. I probably won’t be swimming in the bay,’ she said.

‘But I mean, stingrays are out there and we’re in their environment’ she added. 

Based on the color and size, the creature was likely a Southern stingray which, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, is a non-aggressive species usually of little danger to humans.