Television personality and environmentalist Steve Irwin has died in a marine accident in north Queensland, state government sources say.

The 44-year-old is believed to have been killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest, the sources said.

He was filming an underwater documentary off Port Douglas when the accident occurred.

Mr Irwin’s body was being flown to Cairns by helicopter.

News.com.au: Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin dead

Condolences to his family, this will be hard for them, especially with how the media will swoop on them.  You can leave a tribute on the ABC Forums.  Google Maps image of where he was.

Other reports:

• SMH: Crocodile man reported dead
• Courier-Mail: Steve Irwin dead
• ABC: Steve Irwin dead
• Go Man Go: Steve Irwin – simply the best

tags: Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, TV

This just in:  Platforms and Services Co-President Jim Allchin has just now posted an announcement that RC1 is complete on the TechBeta/TAP site (note that it’s password-protected).  We’re reproducing the text here so that you all can see his comments.  As per usual, we’re initially rolling out the code to the TechBeta and TAP programs alone, while MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be offered access next week.

Windows Vista Team Blog : It’s Official: Windows Vista RC1 Is Complete

Visa has just made it to release candidate 1.  I’ll be grabbing it as soon as it’s released to MSDN.

tags: Visa, Microsoft, Windows, Releases