TRAPPED IN 2 MILES OF KILLER JELLYFISH

Sting hell after crash landing in sea

A kite surfer was left fighting for life after he splashed down in a huge shoal of poisonous jellyfish.

Dad-of-three Crispin Freeman, 42, was stung repeatedly for 40 minutes.

His body went into shock and his airways began to constrict. With time running out, currents swept him clear of the shoal and friends pulled him out of the water.

Hospital doctors gave him an emergency antihistamine injection which saved his life.

Yesterday Crispin, from Solihull, West Midlands, said: "I thought I was going to die. I was thinking about what happened to Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.

"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. It was incredibly painful but after a while the pain went and I started feeling strangely peaceful. It was like being in a bath full of jellyfish but without any water in it.

"I was so lucky to survive, it could have easily gone the other way."

Aussie TV star Steve Irwin died after he was stung by a ray. But former lawyer Crispin made a full recovery from his ordeal - in the Pacific off Costa Rica.

His wife Jo said: "He had been stung a couple of times the previous day so knew there were jellyfish around.

"But I don't know where this two-mile slick of them came from. His kite ripped when he landed in the water so he could not launch it again.

"A friend tried to help but Crispin screamed at him to go away because there were millions of jellyfish.

"They were stinging him anywhere he didn't have hair - on his inner thighs, upper arms and neck.

"He said it was agonising and his skin looked like it was covered in thirddegree burns. His friends on the beach were helpless but luckily the tide current washed him in away from the jellyfish.

"He has just been left with a rash but at the time he swelled up like a balloon.

"Thankfully he is OK but it could have been so different."

Crispin and Jo moved to Costa Rica in 2004 with their children Estrella, now five, Arturo, three, and Ruby, one, to set up a property business.

Jo, who has written a book, A Friend Laughs, about their life in Central America, said of last month's drama: "Jellyfish haven't put Crispin off kite surfing. He loves the thrill."