A 5-metre python swallows a woman in Indonesia: she was discovered after the animal's stomach was cut open

A woman was found dead in the belly of a python, which had swallowed her whole, in central Indonesia, a local official announced on Saturday

Farida's husband, 45, and residents of the village of Kalempang, in the province of South Sulawesi, discovered her on Friday inside the reticulated python, which measured around five meters. The mother of four had disappeared on Thursday evening, and a search had been launched, village chief Suardi Rosi told AFP.

The villagers searched the area and quickly spotted "a python with a big belly", said Suardi Rosi. "They decided to cut open its stomach and Farida's head appeared". She was fully clothed inside the snake. Such incidents are extremely rare, but several people have died in Indonesia in recent years after being swallowed by pythons.

Last year, residents of the Tinanggea district in southeast Sulawesi killed an eight-meter python, which had strangled and eaten a farmer. In 2018, a 54-year-old woman was found dead inside a seven-meter python in the town of Muna, in southeast Sulawesi. The previous year, a farmer in West Sulawesi was devoured by a four-meter python in a palm oil plantation.