A missing woman was found eaten alive by a giant python after locals cut her out of the snake's stomach. Farida, a 50-year-old mother of four, vanished while walking through the woods to sell food at a local market near her home in Kalempang village, Indonesia, on Thursday.
The python sank its teeth into her leg, coiled around her body to suffocate her, and then swallowed her headfirst. Farida's husband, Noni, 55, grew worried when she did not return home by nightfall and alerted other villagers, who initiated a search. The next day, they discovered a massive 20-foot-long python lying in the undergrowth, with a prominent bulge in its stomach.
Swallowed Alive and Whole
Video footage from the scene shows its large head, with its tongue flicking from its mouth. Suspecting the worst, the devastated husband and several villagers cut through the thick skin with a machete.
Farida was found inside the snake's stomach, covered in slime. She was found fully clothed inside the snake.
Her body was removed and taken for a religious burial in the Pitu Riawa district of Sidrap Regency, South Sulawesi province.
Her devastated husband, Noni, said: "I am forever sorry that I let my wife go out alone. If I had been with her that day, the snake would not have dared to touch her. I feel sorry for the suffering she went through. I am sorry for our family."
Suardi Rosi, Head of the village of Kalempang where Farida and her family lived, 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 his wife had been eaten by the python.
"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. Women should be accompanied by someone."
Shocking Incident for Community
Indonesia's vast and dense jungles are home to a large population of giant reticulated pythons, which thrive in the environment. Unlike in neighboring Southeast Asian countries, their growth is not limited by urban development.
The most recent recorded case of a human being eaten by a python was in 2022, also in Indonesia.
In that incident, Jahrah, aged 54, disappeared while collecting rubber from a plantation in Jambi province. Horrified locals found a giant python stretched out in a clearing among trees with a noticeable bulge in its belly two days later, on Sunday morning, October 23.
Anto, the head of Terjun Gajah village where Jahrah lived, said that the snake is believed to have attacked Jahrah by biting her, then coiled around her to suffocate her. She was subsequently swallowed whole in an ordeal that likely lasted at least two hours from her head to her toes.
