A man allegedly stepped on a stingray by accident and was was stung by the delicious sea creature at Tanjong Beach, Sentosa.
He was reported to be in intense pain, as stingrays are known to have venomous spines on their tails.
The man suffered a deep gash on the inside of his feet, near the inside of his achilles heel as blood and pus oozed out from the little hole made by the stingray.
It was also very swollen.
He was attended to by lifeguards before being conveyed to Singapore General Hospital in an ambulance.
You can read the man’s post in full below:
“Hi guys,
Just wanted to share what I went through over the past week so that you can be more careful and hopefully avoid a similar ordeal.
My family and I were playing in the water at Tanjong Beach (Sentosa) last Sunday. As we were about to leave the water, I stepped on and subsequently got stung by a stingray. ⚡️
What followed was three nights in the hospital and some of the most intense nerve pain I’ve felt in my life, not just locally at the site of the sting but also shooting up my leg and down into my foot – and that’s despite constant and generous doses of heavy painkillers (morphine, Tramadol, Panadol, etc).
The life guards responded quickly and seemed to know what they were doing. I got taken to SGH by ambulance (my 3 year old son was very jealous!), and the care there was also good, even though they couldn’t really find a way to bring the pain down, especially at night.
The pain eventually got better and I was released on day 4. Today the pain is pretty much gone, and I can only see a small scar from the sting. I’m just grateful that it got me and not my son who was about 5 feet away from me in the water! 🙏🏻
Both the lifeguards as well as the doctor at the hospital mentioned that they had another case with the exact same injury on the same afternoon, but apparently that one happened at Siloso Beach… so this apparently wasn’t a one-in-a-million freak accident and does happen sometimes in Sentosa.
I’m not sure if there’s a surefire way to protect yourself from such a sting. I’ve heard the stingers can even penetrate beach shoes. Given the force I felt when I got stung, I can believe that. It felt like a hammer hitting my ankle!
One way, apparently, is to shuffle your feet through the sand instead of taking proper steps. Might be worth a try next time you enter the water in Sentosa.
Also, just to clarify, I’m not in any way mad at the stingray (nor do I seek revenge, as some have suggested 😅). I was in its home and stepped on it, so that’s on me. I’m sure it was properly scared and hence the defensive reaction was perfectly normal. Nature sure knows how to fight back!!“
Images source: @netiizenz on IG