The body of 54-year-old Jahrah was found on October 23 when villagers dissected the nearly seven-meter-long python in the village of Terjun Gajah, Lampung province on Sumatra island.

Ms. Jahrah has been missing since the night of October 21 after going into the forest near her house to collect latex.

By sunrise, the woman still hadn’t come home, worrying the victim’s family and opening a search. After days of searching for missing people, people found a giant python with a stomach so full that it could barely move. A long shape protruding from the center of its abdomen foreshadows a bad omen for those who see it.

Locals killed the python and laid it on the ground, carefully cutting a line along its belly. When the belly of the python was opened, people saw Jahrah’s body lying inside.

When the belly of the python was opened, the villagers found Jahrah’s body lying inside. Photo: Viral Press

Mr. Anto, the chief of Ms. Jarah’s village, suggested that the python may have bitten, killed Ms. Jahrah by squeezing, suffocating her, and then swallowing. This painful process lasts at least two hours.

Mr. Anto added: “The villagers are worried that the larger pythons are still in the forest. Many people think that the giant pythons are the culprits that devour the two goats in the village.”

This is not the first case of people being swallowed by giant pythons in Indonesia. In March 2017, people in a remote village on the island of Sulawesi slashed the stomach of a giant python because they suspected it had swallowed a resident of the village. The victim was 25-year-old Akbar Salubiro, who went missing after harvesting palm oil.

In 2018, a woman on Muna island (in Sulawesi province) was also swallowed by a 7-meter-long python while visiting a corn field nearly 1 km from her home.

Agricultural experts say giant pythons attack people because their habitat is invaded by human exploitation activities. When their natural food sources are depleted, they have no choice but to eat whatever they find.