Cheating death: Bali tourist holds an octopus in her hand without realising just how close she is to being KILLED by the highly venomous animal

• A woman studying overseas handled a deadly octopus while swimming 
• The US citizen was in Bali, Indonesia, when she held the blue-ringed octopus 
• A bite from a blue-ringed octopus is painless but can kill a human in minutes  An American tourist unknowingly had a close call with death when she held a highly-venomous octopus in her hand while on a study trip overseas. 

  Kaylin Phillips, who is based in the US state of Virginia, picked up the blue-ringed octopus on a beach while she was attending university in Bali. 

  The creature, one of the most deadliest in the ocean, can kill a human within minutes with its venom causing respiratory arrest.

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  Kaylin Phillips (pictured) unknowingly held a highly venomous octopus while in Bali, Indonesia

  Ms Phillips said she only realised the animal was lethal when she put the video on Instagram before researching the cute cephalopod.   

  The then-student was helping film a documentary about animal welfare while in Indonesia. 

  'While we were there, we saw really interesting wildlife,' Ms Phillips said in a TikTok video.

  'I remember when we saw this little guy swim up, we picked him up. There were about three of us passing him around and we didn't think anything of it.

  'We actually saw another one similar, picked that one up as well,' she said of the incident which occurred three years ago. A blue-ringed octopus' venom contains neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, which can paralyse a human in minutes by stopping them from taking in enough oxygen.

  The bites are painless but fatal, causing paralysis in about 10 minutes. 

  A victim can also experience excessive bleeding, nausea, vomiting, changes in vision and difficulty swallowing.

  There is no anti-venom and resuscitation efforts consist of trying to get air into a patient's lungs through a tube or mask. 

  

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  The then-student did not realise the blue-ringed octopus was highly venomous

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