Body of Missing Elderly Woman Found in 22ft Long Python in Indonesia

Nicolas SimpsonOctober 26, 2022, 6:41 PM

The decomposed body of a 54-year-old woman was found inside a 22ft long python after being declared missing by relatives who were concerned about her safety. Identified as Jahrah, reports are that she went into the local forest in Jambi, Indonesia, on Sumatera Island on Friday, October 21 to scavenge for rubber. When she failed to return home, neighbours went looking.

Several search parties were formed to scour the woods of the Tanjung Jabung Barat regency. Through this effort, the woman was found two days later on October 23. While searching, a giant snake, 22ft long, was detected in a glade with its stomach suspiciously enlarged. The residents and the police, who were also notified, were devastated to find that Jahrah had become a meal for the cold-blooded reptile.

Residents pooled their efforts to corner and subdue the snake before proceeding to chop it apart with cutlasses and pry its stomach open. The gruesome find was confirmed when the body of the missing woman was spotted in the bowls of the python’s belly.

A recording of the pivotal moment was captured, and the lifeless body of Jahrah was discovered, partially decomposed in the snake, before she was then wrapped in a blue tarpaulin. The chopped remains of the serpent were placed inside a bag.

Anto, head of the Terjun Gajah village where the victim resided, stated that the creature is imagined to have bitten Jahrah before tightly wrapping itself around her and squeezing to suffocate its prey in a traumatic experience said to have lasted for no less than two hours. A full digestion of the body could have taken the snake weeks to complete.

He also relayed, “the victim did not come home after saying goodbye to her family to go to the garden collecting rubber from trees on Friday. Her family then reported her missing to the local authorities, and a search has been carried out since then. Residents killed the snake and dissected its stomach contents.” Additionally, he mentioned that the members of the search party were “astonished” that she was found inside the snake’s body.

Explaining that the incident, along with multiple python sightings (including the presence of a 27ft long snake that villagers failed to apprehend because of its size), has given rise to unease in the community, Anto said, “villagers are now worried that bigger snakes are still in the forest. The presence of this giant snake has also swallowed two resident goats.”

A lot of pythons are said to reside in Indonesia in secluded forests. They feed on wild animals, livestock, lost pets, and the occasional human. Pythons are estimated to be the heaviest and longest reptiles in the world.

In an incident that occurred in March 2017, a man by the name of Akbar Salubiro was also eaten alive on West Sulawesi Island by a python. His remains were removed from the creature by cutting its bowels open.

Watch the video of the incident that was shared on Twitter below: