Woman missing in forest found dead inside belly of 20-ft python

A woman who went missing in Indonesia was found dead inside the belly of a 20ft python.

Farida, 45, a mother of four, went missing on Thursday night while she was walking through woodlands to sell food at a market in central Indonesia’s Sulawesi province.

Her husband, Noni, 55, became suspicious after finding his wife’s belongings in the forest and spotting a 20ft-long python with a ballooned up belly. The man, identified along with his wife in local media only by one name, raised an alarm among the locals.

It is believed that the python bit her on her leg and coiled around her body to suffocate her before swallowing her whole.

The villagers caught the python and sliced open its belly and found the woman dead inside.

Suardi Rosi, head of the village of Kalempang where the family lived, said the husband looked for his wife in the forest area and “found her belongings... which made him suspicious”.

“The villagers then searched the area. They soon spotted a python with a large belly," Mr Rosi said.

“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,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

Her husband lamented her death and said he will be “forever sorry that I let my wife go out alone”. Many people gathered to mourn her death after her body was brought back to the village.

The incidents of humans being killed by pythons are rare but not unusual in Indonesia where several people have died in similar incidents.

Last year, a farmer in Southeast Sulawesi’s Tinanggea district was strangled by a python. Resident killed the 8m-long python as it tried to swallow him.

In 2022, a woman in Jambi province was swallowed whole by a python. Jahrah, 54,  was collecting rubber from a plantation when she went missing. Locals found a swollen snake two days later and found her body. In 2018, a mother of two was eaten alive by a python.