Lifesaver urges north Queensland swimmers to wear stinger suits as deadly box jellyfish wash up

Dead or sick box jellyfish that wash up on the beach are still deadly. (ABC Tropical North: Danielle Jesser)

As kids splash around in the salty seawater, volunteer surf lifesaver Ross Gee worries.

Looking out over a busy beach near Mackay in north Queensland, he feels powerless that hardly anyone is wearing a stinger suit while camouflaged dangers lurk in the shallows.

It’s the same spot two years ago that Mr Gee dragged teenager Mark Angelo Ligmayo from the water, tentacles tangled around his arms and legs like wrapping paper.

The boy’s quiet plea still rings in his ears.

“He whispered, ‘Help me,’ and that was it,” Mr Gee recalled.

“I still get choked up when I talk about it.”

“It’s a part of me forever.”

The 14-year-old boy later died as a result of his stings.

Wear a stinger suit

In north Queensland at this time of year, the warm weather and tranquil beaches still draw keen locals and tourists.

But as beach numbers surged over the school holidays, surf life saving volunteers have spotted waves of “very large and lethal” box jellyfish washing up along the shore.

“I keep telling people, stinger suits are the seatbelts of the surf,” Mr Gee said.

“When you get in the car you don’t expect to get in an accident, but you put a seatbelt on.

“At this time of year [stingers] are at their biggest, they are at their most venomous, and they are rolling around half dead in the water.”

Since December, more than 230 patients have presented to emergency departments across Queensland with marine stings.

In the Mackay region alone, there have been nearly 70.

‘The outcome was tragic’

It was peak summer when Mark Angelo was stung by a box jellyfish.

Mr Gee remembers an afternoon patrol like any other in February 2022.

He had just completed a routine drag, where large nets are hauled from the ocean to the shore to check for stingers.

The long-time volunteer emerged from the water in a full wetsuit, boots and gloves when he heard a cry.

“A swimmer about six or seven metres away goes, ‘He’s been stung,’ and I was straight in the water,” Mr Gee said.

The teenager was rushed to the Mackay Base Hospital where he later died.

“The outcome was tragic, the size of the sting was massive, and there was no protective clothing worn,” Mr Gee said.

Stingers in the shallows

The Australian box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri, is considered one of the most venomous animals in the world.

Marine biologist Dr Lisa-ann Gershwin said stingers washing up in the shallows may be sick or dying, but they were no less deadly.

“A mature Chironex has 15 tentacles on each corner, so that’s 60 tentacles total and each tentacle might be about two to three metres long,” Dr Gershwin said.

“That gives you up to 180 metres of killing power on one Chironex.

“It takes as little as three to five minutes to kill a healthy adult.”

Stinger season continues

The end of summer is typically considered the end of stinger season, but Dr Gershwin warned there was no “safe” time to be in north Queensland waters, only higher and lower risk.

“I would consider April one of the highest risk periods of the stinger season because this year’s batch are still around — they’re very large and very lethal,” she said.

“Some die off with autumn and winter, some persist … but there is no season of the year where there’s no risk of Chironex.”

Mr Gee shakes his head when he sees swimmers trying their luck in the water.

“We warn them of the risks and they will still go for a swim,” he said.

“To be honest, the tourists are more likely to have a stinger suit on than the locals.”

He urged the public, particularly families with children, to heed their safety message.

“Nature throws curveballs, a stinger season is only a date on a calendar,” Mr Gee said.

“Suit up, swim at a patrol beach, know the first aid, and triple-0 is your friend.”