A man in Indonesia made a horrific discovery yesterday when he stumbled upon a snake in the jungle – and realised it had tried to eat his wife.
Mother-of-five Siriati, 36, was visiting her brother to go to the market together to buy medicine in Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi, on Tuesday morning, July 2.
But she was set upon by a gargantuan 30ft-python that sank its teeth into her leg as she trekked along a jungle trail.
The killer reptile then coiled itself around her body – crushing her to death – and then began to eat her.
Siriati’s husband Adiansa, 30, became worried when her brother called to say she had not arrived. He walked the same route she had taken and found her slippers on the grass.
He was horrified to find a huge snake with ‘a very large belly’ lying in the undergrowth just a few steps away from the path.
Shocking images and videos showed villagers surrounding the scene stamping on the body of the snake
A gargantuan 30ft-python sank its teeth into the unsuspecting woman’s leg as she trekked along a jungle trail
Locals raised the alarm and Siriati’s lifeless body was recovered and taken home before being buried the next morning in the village of Siteba
Adiansa retrieved a weapon to kill the snake, stabbing a wooden stake through its body and beating it. He called villagers to help cut open its stomach, where they found Siriati’s lifeless body.
The corpse was recovered and taken home before being buried the next morning in the village of Siteba.
Shocking images and videos showed villagers surrounding the scene stamping on the body of the snake.
Siteba Village Secretary, Iyang, 38, said the snake killed the mother at around 7:30am local time.
He said: ‘The victim wanted to go out to buy her child’s medicine. Her youngest son is three years old. She was visiting her brother and had to go through the forest first
‘Her brother waited for a long time, but the victim didn’t come. That’s why her brother called the victim’s husband. The husband said that Suriati had been gone since early morning.
‘So the husband went looking for his wife, he found her sandals on the road in the middle of the forest. He suspected that they had been eaten by a snake because there were snake tracks there.
‘This snake more or less dragged the victim five meters from the location.’
Walenrang Police Chief, Adjunct Police Commissioner Idul, said that Siriati’s body was found intact.
He said: ‘The condition of the body was intact but perhaps the bones had been crushed. The body is already at the funeral home for a religious ceremony.’
Pythons thrive in the lush jungle where they have a rich food supply – helping them to reach sizes that make them capable of eating people
This is the horrifying moment mother-of-four Farida, 50, was found eaten alive by a giant python last month
Idul added that there was a wound on the victim’s leg which was suspected to be a snake bite.
He said: ‘We think it was a snake bite. After being bitten, it immediately wrapped itself around the leg and finally paralysed the victim.’
A similar attack happened last month when a mother was eaten alive near her home in the village of Kalempang, Indonesia, on June 6.
Farida, 50, was walking alone through dense woodland when a python attacked her and swallowed her whole.
Farida’s husband Noni, 55, became worried she had not returned home by nighttime and alerted other locals who began searching.
They found a mammoth 20ft long python sprawled out in the undergrowth the next day, with a large bulge in its stomach.
Her body was later cut out of the snake’s insides.
Farida had been entombed inside the snake’s stomach covered in slime. She was removed and taken away for a religious burial in the Pitu Riawa district of Sidrap Regency, South Sulawesi province.
Noni said: ‘I am forever sorry that I let my wife go out alone. If I had been with her that day, the snake would not have dared to touch her.
‘I feel sorry for the suffering she went through. I am sorry for our family.’
Locals found a mammoth 20ft long python sprawled out in the undergrowth with a large bulge in its stomach
The villagers used a blanket to protect Farida’s modesty as they took her out of the snake’s stomach
Several other villages came along to help catch the python
Last year residents in South Sulawesi killed a python which was found strangling and eating one of the farmers in a village.
A 54-year-old woman was found dead in 2018 inside a 23ft-python in Southeast Sulawesi’s Muna town.
And the year before, a farmer in West Sulawesi went missing before being found being swallowed by a 13-ft python at a palm oil plantation.
The longest python ever recorded was found in 1912 and measured in at a staggering 32ft.
Pythons live in southeast Asia and while they are typically found in rainforests, woodland and grasslands, their habitat preference seems to depend on their location.
Pythons thrive in the lush jungle where they have a rich food supply – helping them to reach sizes that make them capable of eating people.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where thick jungle and limited urban development has allowed the population to grow unrestricted.