Southern Thailand
20 Year Old German Woman Dies from Box Jelly Fish Attack on Koh Samui
.KOH SAMUI -German tourist, Thies Saskia, 20, has died after being stung by a poisonous box jellyfish off the popular island resort of Koh Samui, police said Wednesday, the third known fatality in Thailand in just over a year.
Miss Saskia was pronounced dead late Tuesday at a private hospital on the island after the attack during a nighttime swim at Lamai beach on Koh Samui Island.
Another 20-year-old German woman was also stung when she went into the sea to help her friend, Thai media reported on Wednesday.
Staff at the bungalow where the two women stayed heard screaming and rushed to see what was the matter. They found the two women crying in pain with jelly fish stings along their bodies.
The staff immediately alerted the Koh Samui municipality’s rescue center who rushed them to Bangkok Samui Hospital “Doctors reported Miss Saskia died due to poison from a box jellyfish.”
Lieutenant Thanakorn Patnankaew, a tourist police officer on the island, said that local officials have since traveled to nearby beaches to warn tourists to be more cautious while swimming, though such stings are rare.
The German Consulate in Phuket confirmed that one of its citizens was killed due to a fatal jellyfish sting but could provide no further details.
In August a Thai woman died due to a box jellyfish sting off Koh Phangan, an island a short ferry ride away from Koh Samui that is especially popular with backpackers for its hedonistic full-moon beach parties.
And in August 2014, a five-year-old French boy was killed in an attack by the species in the same area.
The box jellyfish has trailing tentacles two to three meters (six to 10 feet) long that can pack a lethal sting for swimmers. It feeds on small fish and crustaceans.
