Young girls stung by deadly jellyfish

Three young girls have been airlifted to a hospital in Queensland after suffering from what are believed to be jellyfish stings.

At about 11am on Tuesday, a Queensland LifeFlight rescue helicopter attended to a primary school aged girl believed to have been stung by a tiny, but very harmful jellyfish.

It is believed the girl had been playing in a popular creek on K’gari (Fraser Island) when she was stung by an irukandji – a miniature jellyfish whose sting is considered “ten out of ten” on the pain scale.

The aircraft pilot was able to land on a sandbar close to where the child was stung, and she was flown to Hervey Bay Hospital in a stable condition with her father.

Later that afternoon, local Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics treated two young siblings who had been playing in the water at a well-known creek in the same location.

The two girls, aged five and nine, suffered suspected upper body stings from irukandji.

In some cases, the irukandji can cause death by cardiac arrest.

After being treated by paramedics, the girls were transported to a helipad at Orchid Beach where they were then airlifted to Hervey Bay Hospital by the RACQ LifeFlight helicopter.

They were reportedly in a stable condition in hospital alongside their mother, who travelled with them in the rescue aircraft.