Woman Swallowed Whole By 23-Foot Python In Indonesian Village

An Indonesian woman initially believed to have gone missing was reportedly swallowed whole by a 23-foot-long python while tending crops in her village.

Wa Tiba, a 54-year-old housewife, was last seen on Thursday night, the last night of Ramadan, near her home on Muna island in the Southeast Sulawesi province of Persiapan Lawela. The village chief, known as Faris, claimed the woman went missing and that she was last seen working in her vegetable garden near the village, the Associated Press reported.

After Tiba didn’t come home, her sister went to look for her. She discovered Tiba's sandals and machete not far from the garden, which is located just a half-mile from her home.

A group of almost 100 villagers, including Tiba's family, decided to start searching for her on Friday. They then stumbled upon a reticulated python with a bloated stomach about 50 yards from the woman’s garden. Villagers killed the snake, took it back to the community where they sliced it open.

"When they cut open the snake's belly, they found Tiba's body still intact with all her clothes," Faris said, according to the AP. "She was swallowed first from her head."

Video circulated the internet showing villagers using a machete to cut open the snake’s carcass and reveal the victim’s body.

Faris said the woman’s garden is near a rocky area with caves which is believed to be home to a sizable snake population.

Reticulated pythons, commonly found in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, typically latch on to prey using their sharp teeth and then squeeze before swallowing the prey whole.

Pythons don’t usually kill humans as they mainly eat small mammals such as monkeys, birds, pigs, and on rare occasions, alligators.

But they can swallow humans whole because of their ability to expand their lower jaw, according to USA Today. A snake's digestive system also contains enough stomach acid to dissolve an entire person.