The incident is the first recorded death from a box jellyfish sting in Australia in 15 years, local media reported.
(Picture: Shutterstock)An Australian teenager has died after he was stung by a box jellyfish while swimming at a Queensland beach.
The incident is the first recorded death from a box jellyfish sting in Australia in 15 years.
The 17-year-old boy, who has not been named, was stung at Patterson Point, near Bamaga, on February 22.
He was treated at the scene before he was flown to Townsville hospital but his life support was switched off in hospital on Monday.
The Australian box jellyfish, also known as a Chironex fleckeri, is among the world’s most venomous creatures.
People injected with its poison may also experience paralysis or cardiac arrest, according to the National Ocean service.
Authorities said the boy had been swimming near the town of Bamaga in Cape York, on Australia’s northern tip, when he was stung.
Speaking public broadcaster ABC, Marine biologist Lisa-Ann Gershwin, said: “Unfortunately, that (previous) fatality also occurred in Bamaga.
“The fundamentally important part of this is about who lives and who dies [and] overwhelmingly it’s people in remote communities who die,” she added.
“It’s not a physiological difference, but it’s that education around the dangers of stingers that is different.”
