A seventeen-year-old Australian boy has died after being stung by a Sea Wasp, Chironex fleckeri, a form of Box Jellyfish. The boy, who has not been named, was stung while swimming of the coast of Patterson Point, near Bamaga on the western Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, on Monday 22 March 2021. He was airlifted to the Intensive Care Unit at Townsville Hospital by the Royal Flying Doctor's Service, but died a week after the incident on Monday 1 March. This is the first recorded death from a Jellyfish sting in Australia since 2006, when another swimmer died after being stung by a Sea Wasp near Bamaga.
Sea Wasps, Chironex fleckeri, endemic to shallow coastal waters and which has a particularly potent sting, with an adult of the species producing enough venom to kill adult Humans, which makes them a common cause of fatalities from Southeast Asia to Australia. Box Jellyfish are particularly dangerous as they do not simply drift passively as other Jellyfish do, but possess well developed eyes, muscular and nervous systems, allowing them to actively hunt small prey, and sometimes (probably inadvertently) attack Humans.
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