A 16-year-old student was killed by a massive python, which strangled him to death. The incident took place Sunday in Indonesia's Southeast Sulawesi.

According to local reports, the python - believed to be 22-foot-long - attacked the teenager while he was hiking Bombana Regency with four friends. The snake caught the student while on the way to a waterfall in Kahar mountain.

The python wrapped itself around the boy and strangulated him. The attack took place when the boy separated from his friends, Rumbia Police chief Muh Nur Sultan said, according to the Jakarta Post.

"After they were separated, Alfian's friends heard him screaming. When they found him, the python had bit one of his thighs and was wrapped around his neck," Muh Nur said, adding that two of the victim's friends tried to help him by hitting the snake. However, they were instead attacked and bitten by the python.

The friends tried to seek the help from locals who arrived at the scene and killed the python with machetes. However, by the time the python was killed and locals managed to free the victim from the snake, the teenager had died.

Muh Nur said two of the victim's friends who had been bitten by the python had been taken to a local health community center where they were treated and later released.

python
This representational image shows a python on a tree inside his enclosure at the Dhupguri snake park in India, Feb. 8, 2006. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
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