Briton stung for 40 minutes by jellyfish

A KITE-surfer was left fighting for his life after he crash- landed into a swarm of poisonous jellyfish.

SWARM Crispin Freeman was kite surfing when he was swept into a bloom of jellyfish SWARM: Crispin Freeman was kite surfing when he was swept into a bloom of jellyfish

Crispin Freeman, 42, was stung repeatedly for more than 40 minutes after his ripped kite plunged him into the creatures.

He swelled up “like a balloon” and suffered so many stings his body went into shock and his airways began to constrict.

The former lawyer was only saved when strong currents washed him clear of the jellyfish and he was given an emergency antihistamine injection.

Mr Freeman was surfing off Bahia Salinas, in Costa Rica, when his ordeal began in May 23.

He said: “I tried to keep my neck out of the water to prevent them stinging me there, but I was so exhausted that I couldn’t.

“I panicked initially but after a while I couldn’t feel anything. I thought I was going to die.”

Mr Freeman, from Solihull, West Midlands, moved to Costa Rica in 2004 with his wife Jo and their children Estrella, five, Arturo, three, and Ruby, one, to set up a property business.

The family now spend around half the year in central America and the other six months in Britain. Jo was in the UK promoting her book ‘A Friend Laughs’ about the family’s life, when she heard about her husband’s ordeal.

She said: “He said it was like sitting in a bath of jellyfish. They were stinging him anywhere he didn’t have hair – his inner thighs, upper arms and neck. A friend tried to help, but Crispin screamed at him to go away because there were millions of jellyfish.”

Mr Freeman was rescued from the water and rushed to a clinic by friends. He has since made a full recovery.

Mrs Freeman added: “He said it was agonising and his skin looked like it was covered in third-degree burns.

“He has been left with a bit of a rash, but at the time he swelled up like a balloon. Thankfully he’s OK – it could have been so different. I was so upset when I found out. I was crying my eyes out.”

It is thought Mr Freeman landed in a “bloom” – a large swarm of hundreds or even thousands of jellyfish.

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