Warning from marine officials after box jellyfish found in Krabi waters

[snoop1130]

 

A particularly dangerous species of jellyfish has been reported in Krabi, prompting the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources to issue a warning to swimmers in the local Phang Nga Bay. The box jellyfish, whose sting can be fatal, has been found near a pier in Ao Nang, according to a Phuket Express report.

 

Box jellyfish are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their box-like (i.e., cube-shaped) body. Some species of box jellyfish produce potent venom delivered by contact with their tentacles. Stings from some species, including Chironex fleckeri, Carukia barnesi, Malo kingi, and a few others, are extremely painful and often fatal to humans (Wikipedia).

 

DMCR officials say the box jellyfish, also known as ‘sea wasps’, were spotted near Ao Nam Mao Pier in Ao Nang. If stung, the advice is to seek urgent medical attention, bathe the affected area in vinegar for at least 30 seconds and to refrain from washing it with drinking water or alcohol, which could trigger an allergic reaction.

 

By Peter Roche

Caption: PHOTO: Flickr/thedingostrategy

 

Full Story: https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/national-news/warning-from-marine-officials-after-box-jellyfish-found-in-krabi-waters/

 

-- © Copyright Phuket GO 2023-06-28

 

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[CALSinCM]

Let me guess.  If you are stung by a box jellyfish, you'll be deported for interfering with sea life in the sacrosanct Thai seas?

[Troy Tempest]

Last time I was in the UK I got stung at Harry Ramsdens Fish & Chip shop....Not by a box jellyfish, but by the price.

 

I must point out however, that the vinegar was free!

 

Chips	£ 4.39
Cod (Small)	£ 10.09

[Sigma6]

scary creatures

 

If you are stung, your chance of survival or even getting yourself to the shore is virtually zero. The pain has been described as so excruciating that you will probably go into shock and drown, even before the full affect of the venom takes place.

 

https://www.aims.gov.au/docs/projectnet/sea-wasp.html#:~:text=If you are stung%2C your,of the venom takes place.

[JackGats]

I thought "sea wasps" were something very different and much more harmless.

[simon43]

On 6/29/2023 at 12:17 PM, Sigma6 said:

scary creatures

 

If you are stung, your chance of survival or even getting yourself to the shore is virtually zero. The pain has been described as so excruciating that you will probably go into shock and drown, even before the full affect of the venom takes place.

 

https://www.aims.gov.au/docs/projectnet/sea-wasp.html#:~:text=If you are stung%2C your,of the venom takes place.

Well, here is a post that I made on another forum that I'm not allowed to link to.  So I will paste the story below (long story, er.... happy ending!).

 

I thought I was going to die today - no, seriously! (possible box jellyfish)

 

It was just a normal Tuesday for me. Up fairly early to jog the 2km down to 7/1, then walk briskly back. At 8.20, I drove my car to the Burmese community school where I teach as a volunteer. After an hour of teaching, I drove on to the post office in Thong Sala to pick up a parcel from Bangkok.

 

After that, back home and with a couple of hours free before my online lessons, I eat breakfast and I'm ready for the beach! I drive down to the nearby beach, park my car and walk the 300 metres to the sandy beach. Into the water for a swim. I'm swimming on my back and feel a sharp prick at the back of my neck. Then I start to feel lightheaded. Not wanting to drown in the sea, I get out, dress and start to walk back to my car.

 

As I am walking along, I start to feel worse and worse. My hands start kicking out on their own and I'm thinking "I don't need this, what with my (possible) cancer problems". I stagger to a nearby restaurant and ask for some water which they sold me. I'm sitting down and drinking the water and my feet and hands are kicking out and jerking on their own. Am I having a cardiac arrest? No, my heart feels fine. Maybe a stroke? But my head is generally clear and there's no pain. I really don't know what's going on, but I am feeling worse and worse.

 

I call the staff over and tell them to get me an ambulance. All I can think is that a box jellyfish as stung me. I tell them that I have no pain but maybe something stung me in the water. The staff help me to lie down and by now my limbs are jerking uncontrolleably. I'm reasonably lucid and tell the staff as best as can that I don't know what has happened. "Do you have medical insurance?" they ask. Of course I don't because those ****** at April International Insurance just cancelled it a few days ago!!

 

By now I am having trouble breathing and start to repeat the mantra "I do not want to die today, I do not want to die today" over and over again, whilst flapping and jerking around on the floor as the restaurant staff hold my limbs down. The restaurant owner runs over and starts pouring white vineger all over me and rubbing it into my body, presumably to counter the jellyfish sting. Another bottle and another bottle. At one point I looked up and saw her brandishing a large knife, with an unopened vineger bottle in her hand. She sliced the lid closure with the knife, then pulled off the lid with her teeth. I thought for one moment that she was going to take a mouthful of vineger and then spray it all over me, as one might do to exorcise demons!

 

All this time, others had been phoning for an ambulance, which was apparently very slow in arriving. "Where is your passport?" the staff ask. It's in my house. Where is your house? It's in the trees, I try to explain the location, but I'm living in a chalet in the coconut plantations..... What's more, the key to my house is in my car and the car is not at the house and the key to the car is with me and... and... oh f***! Why is everything in the wrong place?

 

Finally the small ambulance arrives and I am placed on a backboard, still jumping around like a shrimp on a hot plate. Placed in the ambulance there are 2 nurses, a pretty woman and the campest ladyboy that I have ever met. "Stop moving around" he scolds me. "As I am having trouble breathing I blurt out "oxygen". The 2 nurses jump up and start opening cupboards, searching for the oxygen tank and mask. I hear them say in Thai "Here it is but it's run out!".

 

All this time, I am absolutely convinced that I am going to die. I'm repeating my mantra and images flash across my brain. You know they say that your whole life flashes across your brain, family, childhood events etc? Well, all I can see are images of hospital bills!!

 

Finally, after a very bumpy ride up and down the hills of Koh Phangan, we arrive at the government hospital. I'm wheeled in and the staff ask me what's going on. "Passport, pasport" they say. I tell them again with great difficulty that it is in my house. But then I remember that I have a scan on my mobile phone. They pass me my phone and then I'm trying to click on the files icon with a finger that is jumping +/- 30cms! Finally I open the files app, but because my finger is jumping around so much, somehow I end up at the oldest picture being displayed.

 

I am trying to swipe the photos to find my passport photo, but all I see are old photos of me with an inane grin, pictures of coconut trees, pictures of coconuts... where is that f***ing passport photo?

Finally I find the passport photo. It transpires that the hospital staff called the Thai police, who then used my details to track down my Thai landlord who had thankfully registered my rental details. My landlord arrived later to tell me that the restaurant owner who had helped me was the biggest yaba dealer in the village, a no-good person and so he had double-locked by house in case she had stolen my house key!

 

The nurses carefully examine all over my body and I tell them about the sharp prick that I experienced while in the sea. Under my hair at the back of my head is a very small puncture mark. What made that mark? I have no idea, but whatever it was, the effects are now beginning to slowly wear off. Over the course of 2 hours, the symptoms gradually get less and less. Finally, I am presented with a bill for 690 baht (which my landlord pays), and then he drives me back to where I parked my car in the village. Still feeling somewhat weak, I was able to drive home, cancel my classes for that day and collapse into bed, where I slept for 12 hours.

 

I have no idea what kind of animal stung or bit me. I guess that the proximity of the bite to my brain created some neurological effects so that my limbs became uncontrolleable. Whatever it was, I can honestly say that I thought that my life was about to end in the rickety old ambulance with the ladyboy scolding me.

 

Did I do anything wrong? YES!
- I didn't have my passport or copy with me
- I didn't have any medical insurance (thanks April). The local government hospital didn't even have a doctor, only nurses.
- I didn't have any cash on me
- I didn't have a friend's contact number
- The mobile phone with me was only subscribed to data, not voice services

 

I'm resting at home today. I will go and take a gift to the yayba dealing restaurant owner who maybe saved my life. Events such as this make you reassess what you are doing and where you are going....