Sign in

Deadly stinger sours best job in world

It may be tagged the “Best Job in the World”, but it almost ended in tragedy for a British man who was stung by a deadly jellyfish as he jetskied around the Australian island he is caretaking and promoting.

Updated on: Dec 31, 2009, 01:23:33 IST
Reuters | By , Sydney
Share
Share via
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
Copy link
  • copy link

It may be tagged the “Best Job in the World”, but it almost ended in tragedy for a British man who was stung by a deadly jellyfish as he jetskied around the Australian island he is caretaking and promoting.

HT Image
HT Image

Only days before his idyllic job comes to an end, Ben Southall said he was stung by a Irukandji, a tiny but deadly jellyfish. Irukandji stings can cause cardiac arrest and death.

“I’ve avoided being boxed by a kangaroo, nibbled by a shark and bitten by a spider or a snake, but then in my final few days on Hamilton Island I fell foul of a miniscule little creature known as an irukandji,” Southall wrote on his blog.

Southall won the “Best Job in the World”, to live on Hamilton Island off tropical Queensland state, after a worldwide competition by Queensland state tourism.

Southall said at first he only felt a “small bee-like sting on my forearm”, but shortly after felt hot and sweaty and started suffering headaches, a tight chest and high blood pressure.

Get the latest headlines from US news and global updates from Pakistan, Nepal, UK, Bangladesh, Russia and US Iran war Live, get all the latest headlines in one place on Hindustan Times.