He wasn't handling it Scrumtulescence, but the relevance of the story is, that if you get within range, it puts a hole in you.
He didn't just dive in, he had a camera man in front then swam over it. It should be quite obvious to anyone that something which is called a stingray has some sort of dangerous tail. Since they sit on the sand, it should be quite obvious that the tail is designed to go upwards, not downwards.
It should be quite obvious that if threatened it might use it defensively. Tiger sharks eat stingrays, so what would someone the size of a man look like as it came over a stingray?
I went swimming in an area close to that area a few years back and saw some Lagoon Stingrays whilst snorkelling. I had a vague recollection of the fisherman story so I wasn't going to swim over the mother. I had Speedos on and I wouldn't have wanted to get a barb in the testicles let alone anthing else. And I am not a marine expert.
http://www.sosuave.net/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1007231
It wasn't a freak incident. He had been bitten before by snakes. Unfortunately people tend to underestimate the danger of having a hole made in their torso.
