A woman was left with excruciating marks all over her body after being stung by a deadly Portuguese man o'war.
Naomi Mateos was swimming at Puntas de Calnegre beach in Lorca, Spain when she was stung by the terrifying jellyfish.
The 23-year-old was about ten metres from shore when she felt a painful stinging sensation spread across her body, leaving her paralysed in pain.
She frantically left the water and tried to remove the jellyfish's tentacles from her body but ended up stinging her hands.
Ms Mateos said: “Only ten metres from the shore, I felt a strong pain in my wrist that went all the way to my back. I became paralysed. I could not move and could only scream.”
Her friend tried using a diving flipper to remove the tentacles but was unable to remove the creature's strong grip.
Naoimi continued: “She (her friend) saw the blue tentacles stuck to my skin and realised that it was a Portuguese man o’war."
She was given first aid before being rushed to Virgen de la Arrixaca hospital in the city of Murcia.
Ms Mateos shared shocking pictures on social media revealing painful tentacle marks all over her chest, back, arms and shoulders.
She said: “It was as if I had something injected into my body. I cannot compare this pain to anything.
"I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, but on Wednesday I spent the whole day sedated, with morphine for the pain.”
The Portuguese man o’war is a marine hydrozoan with long tentacles that can deliver a painful sting.
Their sting is venomous and powerful enough to kill fish and, in some cases, humans.
The Murcian Health Service said the animals were not common on beaches in the Spanish region.
