The famous Thai region of Phuket, one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, has banned swimming at three beaches after poisonous jellyfish-like creatures were washed ashore. Their stings can cause excruciating pain and in extreme cases can be fatal.

The Portuguese man-of-war, a strange-looking jellyfish-type creature, is a bizarre floating colony of lots of tiny marine organisms living together and behaving collectively as one animal. It remains dangerous for humans even when beached, and its poisonous sting can cause severe shock and heart failure.

Kittiphas Tharapibal, head of Sirinath National Park, told the Bangkok Post that the national park staff had spotted men-of-war along the Naiyang, Naithon and Layan beaches in Phuket on Friday.

Full story: rt.com