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A mother-of-four named Farida, whose surname has not been made public, was found eaten alive by a giant python in Kalempang, Indonesia.
Farida disappeared while walking to her local market on Thursday, and her husband Noni raised the alarm when she did not return home that evening.
A search party was launched alongside other locals, and on Friday, they found a 20-foot-long python in the undergrowth with a massive bulge in its stomach.
Fearing the worst, they cut through the reptile’s stomach with a machete and found Farida’s body in the snake’s gut.
It appeared the python had bitten her leg before coiling around her, suffocating her before it swallowed her head first.
Indonesia’s Wild Pythons
Indonesia has a large population of wild pythons in its vast and dense jungle, where they can thrive. Unlike neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, urban developments have not limited their growth.
The last documented case of a human being eaten by a python was in 2022, and it was also in Indonesia. In that case, Jahrah, 54, disappeared while collecting rubber from a plantation in Jambi province before horrified locals found a giant python stretched out in a clearing among trees with a prominent bulge in its tummy two days later on October 23.
Warning to Villagers
Suardi Rosi, head of Farida’s home village, said: “The victim’s husband looked for his wife in the nearby forest area because she had not been home for a day. He found a snake with a large stomach.
He immediately suspected that the python had eaten his wife. Several other villages then helped him to catch the python.
The body of his wife was found in the stomach of a snake. She was taken away to his house before being buried. This has not happened before in our village. We have warned everybody to be careful when they walk through the woods. Someone should accompany women.”
