Residents of the remote village, on the island of West Sulawesi, Indonesia, were shocked to discover the body of their neighbor, a young farmer, inside a monster python.
The 25-year-old victim, named Akbar (many Indonesian people go by only one name), had gone missing since March 26 and was last seen leaving to harvest palm oil.
Police forces deployed in the search for the lost man reported for BBC Indonesian that they discovered an enormous snake in the vicinity of the farmer's palm plantation.
Swallowed Whole
The giant serpent, a reticulated python (Python reticulatus) measuring over 20 feet in length, was found already dead and was immediately suspected to have swallowed the man whole. When the animal was spotted, the police could notice the shape of farming boots protruding from the reptile's stomach.
Local authorities assumed that the python, which is a constrictor snake, suffocated Akbar and then became asphyxiated while trying to gobble its meal — a common occurrence for pythons attempting to hunt large-sized prey.
"They didn't find him (Akbar), but the villagers saw an unmoving python in the ditch. They grew suspicious that maybe the snake had Akbar. When they cut it open, Akbar was inside the snake," said Mashura, police spokesperson for the West Sulawesi province.
In a statement for The Jakarta Post, a local news website, village secretary Salubiro Junaidi said that Akbar's neighbors heard cries for help the night before Akbar was found. Their fears weren't confirmed until 24 hours later, when the snake was found.
A gruesome video footage of the horrified villagers was posted cutting open the python's stomach with an 18-inch hunting knife to retrieve the lifeless body of Akbar.
Reticulated Pythons
The longest snakes in the world, reticulated pythons can grow up to over 32 feet and coil around their prey, cutting out its air supply, before swallowing it entirely.
According to Nia Kurniawan, from the University of Brawijaya, reticulated pythons typically feed on big animals, like boars, primates, or dogs.
Although normally avoiding humans, the 20-foot python could have been attracted to the palm oil plantations by the prospect of a good hunt, since farming settlements occasionally draw in the snake's favored meal.
Pythons seldom harm people and don't usually target them as prey, even though rare reports sporadically mention small children falling victim to a python attack.
Rarely seen, these snakes hide in the forest and are often regarded as sacred animals in parts of Indonesia.
