Queensland lifeguards have described the situation as ‘epidemic’ and warn people to refrain from even walking along the coastline, let alone going for a swim.
Beaches on both the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, located near Australia’s city of Brisbane, Queensland, have been closed over reports of thousands of swimmers being stung by jellyfish-like creatures, known locally as bluebottles.
According to the report, some 2630 people were stung across the weekend, with almost 1000 hurt in a matter of hours on Sunday. An undisclosed number of victims were hospitalized suffering from anaphylactic shock.