A British man has died after being bitten by a sea snake while working on a prawn trawler off the Northern Territory coast.
The 23-year-old was bitten on Thursday while pulling up a net off Groote Eylandt, 650 kilometres east of Darwin.
Police say the boat was five hours from land and the man was pronounced dead once the trawler reached the town of Borroloola.
Emergency medical service Care Flight sent a helicopter to the boat as part of a multi-agency response but it turned around after it was apparent it was too late to help.
St John Ambulance operations manager Craig Garraway said there was little that could be done to save the man.
"The Groote Eylandt health clinic and police responded to the trawler but unfortunately the male passed away at some point yesterday afternoon," Mr Garraway told the ABC.
NT Work Safe is investigating the incident and said the prawn trawler, Ocean Exporter, is owned by WA Seafood Exporters.
The British High Commission has been informed of the man's death, which is not the only recent incident of a British man dying on an Australian fishing boat.
In 2013, 20-year-old Ryan Donoghue was electrocuted on a prawn trawler in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh found his death was needless and preventable.
