Gold Coast beaches: mass rescue and bluebottle swarms shut beaches at Burleigh Heads and Tugun

Lifesavers have been kept ridiculously busy with thousands needing treatment for marine stingers across the Gold Coast today.

A PLAGUE of bluebottles shut beaches across the Gold Coast at the weekend with thousands of swimmers succumbed to stings from the painful creatures.

Lifesavers shut Coolangatta beach at 2pm and Tugun at 11am yesterday due to the relentless stings by swimmers.

Surf Life Saving Queensland issued a “major bluebottle warning” after lifesavers treated about 1800 stings on the Gold Coast over the weekend.

Surf Lifesaving Queensland: Massive bluebottles wash up on shore.

About 1,323 people were stung on Saturday and more than 480 on Sunday thanks to unusually strong winds bringing the venomous colonial organisms close to shore.

Gold Coast Duty officer Peter Whitty said the stingers had been relentless since Christmas.

“There have been a few around and some allergic reactions as well,” Mr Whitty said.

“If you’re stung go see a lifesaver or a lifeguard.”

Mr Whitty said the stings should be treated with hot water and ice.

“The water should be as hot as you can stand, do not make it scalding,” he said.

Surf Lifesaving Queensland supplied shots of massive bluebottles

He warned against rubbing sand into the sting, vinegar or methylated spirits and urged swimmers to keep between the red and yellow flags.

But bluebottles weren’t the only test for lifesavers this weekend with rips keeping them busy.

Unstable conditions created a flash rip at Burleigh Heads yesterday at 11.30am which pulled a number of swimmers off a their feet and sparked a mass rescue.

Gold Coast lifesaving duty officer Jeremy Sturges said the beach was closed as all lifesavers worked to get swimmers back to shore.

He said two swimmers made it back to the beach on their own while a teenage girl swallowed a lot of water.

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Paramedics were called to the surf club where they assessed the girl and she declined transport to hospital.

Mr Sturges said lifesavers across the coast were on high alert due to unstable conditions.

He urged beachgoers to swim between the red and yellow flags.

on Saturday Currumbin lifesavers performed a mass rescue pulling six people out of a flash rip.

Earlier, a toddler was taken in a serious condition to Gold Coast University Hospital after a near drowning.

Paramedics were called to Bundall Road at 3.11pm including a critical care unit.

The male toddler had been pulled from a body of water before being taken to hospital.