
Police have arrested a teenage boy after a young woman was repeatedly stabbed as she sunbaked on a north Queensland beach.
The 23-year-old suffered wounds all over her body as she lay on Blacks Beach at Mackay about noon on Monday.
She's told investigators her attacker was a stranger and that she was alone when he targeted her.
"She was approached by a male and stabbed multiple times to her head, neck, arms and legs," Detective Inspector Tom Armitt has told reporters.
"That male person has then ... run away and she's then sought help and come to a local construction site."
Builders at the scene helped her and she was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but she is expected to recovery.
A 16-year-old boy was taken into custody a short time later.
No charges have yet been laid.