Video Captures Shocking Moment When Missing Grandma's Body Was Found in Python That Had Swallowed Her
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
A 54-year-old Indonesian woman was the victim of a massive python that swallowed her whole, according to authorities.
The woman, whose name was given as Jahrah, had gone to work Oct. 23 at a rubber plantation near the village of Betara in the Jambi province, according to a translation of a report by CNN Indonesia.
The woman, a grandmother, never returned.
Her husband went looking for her, according to Betara Jambi Police Chief AKP S Harefa. All he found, however, were sandals, a knife, a headscarf and a jacket.
The next day, searchers found a massive python with a large bulge.
“During the search, the team found a giant python, measuring 7 meters [22 feet] in length, which we suspected had preyed on the victim,” police said in a statement, according to The Washington Post. “The team captured the snake.”
After killing the reptile, residents of the village decided to split it open.
“The victim was found in the snake’s stomach,” Harefa said, according to the BBC.
“The victim’s body was not destroyed when we found her inside the snake, meaning that she had only been recently swallowed whole,” the police statement said, according to The Washington Post.
“Everyone was astonished,” Anto, the leader of the local Terjun Gajah village, told ViralPress, according to the New York Post. “It turned out that the woman we were looking for was in the snake’s stomach.”
The New York Post published video of the moment the grandmother’s remains were found. (Warning: The video may be too graphic for some viewers.)
Anto said the incident isn’t the end of the villagers’ fears, because a 27-foot python has been spotted in the area. Local residents are “worried that bigger snakes are still in the forest,” he said.
Although pythons generally eat smaller prey, they have been known to kill people, according to The Washington Post.
“They are constrictors, so what they do is coil their body around you. They will give you a hug of death. You breathe in and your body gets smaller, it tightens its grip, and you can’t breathe out,” said snake conservationist Nathan Rusli, director of the Indonesia Herpetofauna Foundation.
“The top and bottom jaw of a snake is connected by ligaments; it’s quite flexible. They can swallow prey larger than the size of their head.”
Confirmed reports of pythons killing humans are rare, occurring about once a year, the Post reported.
“Most cases are cases of farmers working in rubber and cacao plantations in Sumatra and Sulawesi; most cases occur at night,” said Indonesian snake expert Djoko Iskandar, a professor at Bandung Institute of Technology.
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