For the second time in barely more than a year, an Indonesian villager has been swallowed whole by a python.

Wa Tiba, 54, left her home on Muna island to visit her cornfield on Thursday night, according to the Jakarta Post.

The field was about a half-mile from her house, surrounded by cliffs, caves and a certain number of reticulated pythons, the longest snakes in the world.

The snakes normally feed on smaller mammals. Attacks on humans are supposed to be as rare as winning the lottery and being struck by lightning at the same time, according to a Washington Post report. Nevertheless, just such a horror took place on an adjacent island last year, when a man’s body was extracted from a 23-foot-long python, shown in a gruesome YouTube video.

Tiba had been concerned about wild boars, not so much snakes, as she walked through her cornfield that night, the Jakarta Post reported. The pigs had been raiding the crops lately.

When she had not returned by sunrise, her sister went to the field to look for her.

Advertisement

She found only Tiba’s footprints, her flashlight, her machete and slippers.

Later Friday morning, about 100 people from Persiapan Lawela combed the fields.

They found the snake a few dozen yards from Tiba’s belongings. It was 23 feet long and so bloated it could barely move. A long bulge midway down its body looked ominous.

The villagers killed the snake and a man knelt and carefully cut across the bulge with a machete. He parted the snake flesh, and Tiba lay intact inside, clothed just as she had when she went to check the corn.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.