‘I feel sorry for the suffering she went through’: Missing Indonesian mum found in python’s belly

A heartbroken husband has shared his grief after his wife, a mother of four, was found dead inside the belly of a monster python.

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A missing woman has been found dead inside the belly of a monster python after it swallowed her whole in central Indonesia, a local official said Saturday.

The husband of 45-year-old Farida and residents of Kalempang village in South Sulawesi province discovered her inside the reticulated python, measuring around five metres on Friday.

The mother of four had gone missing Thursday night and failed to return home, forcing a search effort, village head Suardi Rosi told AFP.

Her husband Noni found her belongings which made him suspicious.

The villagers then searched the area before spotting a python with a large belly.

“They agreed to cut open the python’s stomach. As soon as they did, Farida’s head was immediately visible,” Suardi Rosi explained.

Farida was found fully clothed inside the snake.

A 45-year-old woman named Farida was found dead inside a five-meter reticulated python in Kalempang village, South Sulawesi, after going missing the previous night. Picture: Viral Press

Noni later told media: “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,” he said.

“I feel sorry for the suffering she went through. I am sorry for our family.”

Such incidents are rare but have occurred in Indonesia before, with several cases in recent years where people were swallowed whole by large pythons. Picture: Viral Press

Such incidents are considered extremely rare, but several people have died in Indonesia in recent years after being swallowed whole by pythons.

Last year, residents in Southeast Sulawesi’s Tinanggea district killed an eight-metre python, which was found strangling and eating one of the farmers in a village.

In 2018, a 54-year-old woman was found dead inside a seven-metre python in Southeast Sulawesi’s Muna town.

And the year before, a farmer in West Sulawesi went missing before being found eaten alive by a four-metre python at a palm oil plantation.