Jelly-fish can kill in 30sec

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 20

Jelly-fish can kill in 30sec

NZPA New Delhi A killer more deadly than the cobra lurks in the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean: a jelly-fish with a venomous sting for which modern science knows no antidote. The jelly-fish is Chironex fleckeri, commonly known as the Red Medusa.

A congress of Indian scientists has sketched a portrait of the Red Medusa, a mysterious creature which was first identified 12 years ago after a baffling series of quick, violent, and extremely painful deaths among swimmers off the northern coast of Australia.

Although fishermen working in waters off India, Burma. Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines are well aware of the Red Medusa, Western tourists from Europe and the United States who have visited India on holiday have been totally unaware of the potential danger lurking off the country’s inviting

beaches. The Red Medusa’s domeshaped body is 10cm to 20cm in diameter and ranges in colour from red-brown to yellow-ochre. It has about 50 floppy tentacles each about 30cm-40cm long, with an estimated 750.000 stinging cells.

Scientists say that the venom of these cells is similar to that of . a cobra but

that there is no antidote for

The Red Medusa’s poison can kill a person in 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on what part of the body is touched by its tentacles. The unwary bather who is stung by a Red Medusa drowns immediately or collapses on the beach, screaming and writhing in agony until death.

One person who is known to have survived an encounter with a Red Medusa in the Gulf of Siam is a boy, aged 13, called Cuong. Today, five years later, he still bears the scars: black, marks resembling burns from a red-hot piece of iron.

Cuong survived because a group of Buddhist monks were at hand on the beach. They treated him at their temple with a plant-based medication known only to themselves, recited prayers, and gave offerings to Buddha. Bit by bit Cuong’s wounds healed.

But the next day a German tourist was not so lucky. The tentacles of a Red Medusa touched his face and chest while he was swimming quite far from shore. He just managed to make it to the beach and then collapsed, blinded and screaming in agony. He died soon after in a hospital equipped with all the modern facilities.