Box Jellyfish Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines & The Region

Langkawi's popular Pantai Cenang was the site for a horrible box jellyfish death this year plus innumerable jellyfish stings including dozens inflicted by highly dangerous Irukandji that were serious enough to require hospitalisation with lingering painful affects.

This is a late post. At least it's not a premature post. The newspapers that carried this story helped light home fires across freezing Sweden weeks ago. Frozen Swedes were booked en masse for winter vacations south to Thailand and Malaysia, almost 10% of the population, that's a lot of newspapers and nightly TV News ratings. This sensational story lingers in the minds of Swedes which is probably not a bad a thing but the problem is, it may not have happened.

In tropical north Australia there is a period where box jellyfish move into coastal areas posing a threat to all water users, this period is during the hot and wet summer months and is called the stinger season. The stinger season runs as a rule between November and March though box jellyfish (stingers) have been sighted all throughout the year. This period is where they are most concentrated and researchers at the James Cook University's TASRU (Tropical Australia Stinger Research Unit) suggest that this season is getting longer.

A peaceful swim just off the beach became a serious life or death situation for a foreign tourist at Koh Phangan, Thailand recently when what has been described as a large box jellyfish wrapped its tentacles around the victim's legs.

The only way that Thailand and Malaysia will take this issue seriously is by ALL stings being reported (Bangkok bean-counters and KL accountants love statistics and data - without them nothing ever happens) and for ALL questions on the subject of jellyfish being directed to officials.

It is clear through anecdotal evidence that an unknown number of potential box jellyfish stings are going unreported - meaning that no medical treatment is being sought and no official follow up is being made.

There have been many reports of serious jellyfish stings on Langkawi recently that have been posted on this blog and I thank all who have commented - this is invaluable in getting the authorities to do something constructive soon to help improve the situation and make this beautiful island safer for all.

Chironex sp. Langkawi, Malaysia      Copyright Tina Marinis 2010 Denying that a problem exists is made easy when the facts are suppressed as they were at Langkawi, Malaysia in late January 2010 when 45 year old Swede Karina Lofgren was killed by the sting of a box jellyfish. That denial is a shameful beaurocratic act and an insult to Mrs Lofgren's memory, her husband and family.

A Swedish production of Survivor, the very-long-running TV series of marooned modern-day mercenaries, has been shutdown at the Langkawi beach site of a severe though non fatal box jellyfish sting.

The following is a link to a great scuba diving blog I saw today that perfectly demonstrates how the Thai government is actively working on the ground (or beach as it were) with locals, ex-pats and tourism representatives to create a way forward in box jellyfish awareness and safety.

This headline is not really fair on Thailand.

If it was a Great White Shark there would be fear and panic. If it was a ruthless pirate there would be shock and horror. If it was a deadly algal bloom there would be alarm and trepidation. But there was not a ripple, not a murmur, not a blink when the planet's most venomous animal responsible for an estimated 100-200 human deaths in South-East Asia every year was officially for the first time captured on a tourist beach in the Gulf of Thailand.

There is not much in the way of meaningful data available on the Box Jellyfish situation in Thailand or any other country in South-East Asia. It is believed by many well versed in Box Jellyfish research that numerous stings - both fatal and near-fatal - go undetected due to victims not reporting to a medical facility, not being required to get a death certificate, cultural and religious restraints, misdiagnosis (apparent drowning or heart attack) and lies (apparent drowning or heart attack).

A 9 year old Swedish girl is lucky to be alive after receiving serious stings from what is understood to be a Chironex-type Box Jellyfish. Holidaying with family on the Gulf island of Koh Mak located in the Koh Chang group in Trat province, Ida Rosenberg according to reports in ScandAsia, Aftonbladet and Phuketwan was splashing around close to shore when her parents who were snorkelling heard her agonizing screams.

Ironman, tourist or local; when stung by the world's most venomous animal - the Chironex-type Box Jellyfish - we are all the same and could be just as dead as the next person in a matter of seconds.

The Chief of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre and Aquarium ( www.pmbc.go.th/webpmbc/RE/  and http://www.phuketaquarium.org/ ) recently visited Australia on a Box Jellyfish fact-finding mission sponsored by the Australian government and he couldn't have timed his visit any better.

Malaysia is at it again. Another day, another cover-up, another threat, another round of bullying and intimidation. While they are not alone in the region, Malaysia takes the moral high ground in many areas and purports to be a fair player in South-East Asian affairs. Well, something so simple as a truthful, open and honest finding in the death of Swedish woman Carin Lofgren, killed by what her husband described as a classic case of Box Jellyfish envenomation, was obviously too difficult. Why?

Langkawi island lies in the Andaman Sea on the border of Thailand and is one of Malaysia's hottest tourist destinations. In late January 2010 Langkawi experienced its 3rd reported and confirmed Box Jellyfish fatality in 13 years when a 45 year old Swedish woman tragically passed away only seconds after being stung. Sympathies to the poor family.