Fewer people were stung by jellyfish this summer

PALMA
VICTORIA Avella, the Red Cross director for first aid and emergencies in the Balearics, said that fewer people had been stung by jellyfish this summer than in the three months of high season last year, despite regular reports of shoals of jellyfish heading for local beaches earlier this year.

The Red Cross is responsible for first aid and the lifeguard service on 50 beaches in the Balearics, and Avella said yesterday that the number of people being stung will go down between now and the end of the summer campaign (October 31) as there will be fewer people on the beaches.

Although final statistics are not yet available, Avella said that the number of people treated for jellyfish stings since June “would be lower than the 26'300 reported throughout the entire summer last year.” She added that a few people had been stung by weever fish in Arenal (Llucmajor), although she attributed this to “bad luck” rather than an increase in the number of this fish.

Avella said that the presence of jellyfish is not in proportion to the length of coast or beaches of the islands -- last summer, Red Cross volunteers dealt with 16'012 stings in Ibiza and Formentera compared to 7'745 in Majorca and 2'547 in Minorca.

As to the number of people who drowned on the beaches supervised by the Red Cross, Avella said that there had been four deaths since April 1 (two more than last year), with the common denominator that all the victims were elderly foreigners aged between 67 and 91.

In all four cases, the condition of the sea was favourable for swimming, Avella said.
The Red Cross supervises 24 beaches in Majorca (including Palma-Arenal and Cala Agulla in Capdepera), ten in Minorca, including Son Bou which is one of the most difficult to guard, and 16 in Ibiza, which no longer include the best known beach of En Bossa.

The Red Cross in the Balearics has a staff of 165 life guards.
Avella said that there has been a change in bathing habits over the past decade, and people are now more aware of the coloured flags in all beaches which indicate the state of the sea.