Python Swallows a Woman in Indonesia

A giant python has swallowed a woman in Indonesia, whose body was discovered in the snake's stomach a day later, reports the BBC. Farida, a 50-year-old mother of four, went missing near her home in the village of Kalempang while she was on her way to the market to sell vegetables she had grown in her garden.

Her husband, Noni, became worried when she did not return home that night and rallied their neighbors to search for her. The next day, they found a six-meter-long giant python with a noticeably swollen belly in the bushes. Suspecting the worst, the villagers slit open the snake's thick skin and discovered Farida’s body inside.

Noni expressed deep sorrow for allowing his wife to go out alone, saying, “If I had been with her that day, the python wouldn't have dared to touch her. I can't even imagine the suffering she must have endured. I truly mourn for our family.”

The village chief of Kalempang reported that residents from several neighboring villages helped to capture the python and retrieve the victim from its stomach.

This is not the first time pythons have attacked humans in Indonesia. In 2022, a 50-year-old rubber tapper named Jariah was killed and fully swallowed by a python in Jambi Province on Sumatra island. As in Farida's case, several villagers went searching for her, and a day later discovered the same huge swollen python.

“The victim was found in the snake’s stomach,” the local police chief reported at the time, adding that the body was practically intact upon discovery. However, such incidents are quite rare. Since 2017, four people have died in this manner in Indonesia, including the woman killed by the python this week.