PYTHON EATS MAN
Missing vic was swallowed whole
He was in the belly of the beast. A young man who went missing in Indonesia was found inside the stomach of a 23-foot python — after being squeezed to death and swallowed whole.
“When its stomach was cut, we first saw his boot and legs near the neck,” said Junaedi, secretary of Salubiro village in West Sulawesi province.
The victim, identified as a 25year-old man named Akbar, reportedly disappeared sometime between Sunday and Monday while working on his palm-oil crops.
After a two-day search, authorities said they discovered some palm fruit, a picking tool and a boot scattered in the same area. A massively engorged, reticulated python lay nearby.
The species, considered the longest snake in the world, is capable of taking down animals as large as pigs and even cows.
Knowing this, the local villagers sliced the 23-foot python open and made the grim discovery.
“It seems he was attacked from behind because we found a wound on his back,” Junaedi said.
Pythons typically kill by grabbing onto their prey with their sharp, curved teeth and then squeezing it to death before swallowing it whole.
Akbar’s wife was reportedly visiting her parents in a different province when the attack occurred, and was initially unaware of his absence. Authorities said they first got word that he had gone missing from his uncle, after he stopped by Akbar’s house and saw that it was locked and empty.
Snake experts described how the reptile was likely able to take down a human so easily.
“In essence, they can go as large as their prey goes,” Mary-Ruth Low, Singapore Zoo’s conservation and research officer, told the BBC.
Akbar likely stumbled upon an area normally used by the snake to ambush prey. The creatures hunt by sensing vibrations, noise and heat, so the python may have gotten confused and thought Akbar was his food, experts said.
Python attacks on humans are extremely rare, and only a few have ever been reported. In 2002, a 10-year-old boy was reportedly swallowed by one in South Africa.