Local media reported that this is presumably the first death due to a box jelly in 15 years.
Queensland police on Thursday confirmed to CNN that they were preparing a report for the coroner after the sudden death of the 17-year-old from Bamaga.
The boy was transported to the hospital on February 22 and died on March 1, police said.
A spokesman for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, an Australian airline, said in a statement to CNN that the crew had stabilized the patient in Bamaga before transferring him to Townsville Hospital on February 22.
Box jellyfish are named after their body shape and have covered tentacles with small, poison-laden arrows, known as nematocysts.
The Australian variety of the animal has a body size that can reach up to one foot in diameter and tentacles that can grow up to 10 feet long.
“The recent incident at Bamaga is a warning to take timely precautions when swimming in the North Sea,” said Marlow Coates, Torres and the Northern Director of Medical Services in Hospital and Health Services.
“We see sightings of box jellyfish and jellyfish causing Irukandji syndrome in our waters,” he said.
Coates said swimmers should wear protective clothing, such as lycra suits or diving suits, and stay out of the water if they do not have protective gear.
Authorities added that a large Chironex sting was ‘immediately and unbearably painful’ and that it should ‘become life-threatening’.