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Mother found fully clothed in belly of 20-foot python after being swallowed alive

Searches for the whereabouts of a woman came to a terrifying conclusion when villagers found and cut open a snake with a bloated stomach in the area.

[Reticulated python]

The woman was killed by a reticulated python, the longest snake in the world

A mother of four was on her usual route through the forest to sell food at a market close to her house when she went missing - for her body to be found in the most gruesome of places.

The woman, a 50-year-old named Farida, was walking in Kaumpang, an agricultural province in the Mamuju Regency of West Sulawesi, Indonesia, when an enormous snake reportedly approached her and sank its teeth into her leg.

The animal then strangled Farida, killing her, and swallowed her body whole, starting with her head.

The snake in question was a reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus), the longest snake in the world, reaching over 20 feet in length.

After some time had passed, her husband, Noni, started to grow worried. By nightfall, he contacted locals and, upon confirming that she had indeed disappeared, went looking for her with other community members and authorities.

[Landscape in West Sulawesi]

The family lived in West Sulawesi, located in the western portion of the island of Sulawesi.

It was only a day later that searchers found a 20-foot python in a wooded area and confirmed the worst had happened.

The snake had a protruding stomach, which led the group to slice it open with machetes, sadly finding Faridas fully clothed body inside the animal, covered in its digestive liquid.

They then covered Faridas remains and carried her away in a horrifying scene caught on video, past a large crowd of fellow villagers.

According to the Daily Mail, Noni spoke about the pain of losing his wife in such an unexpected way, saying: 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. I feel sorry for the suffering she went through. I am sorry for our family.

Farida had a funeral service and was laid to rest in the Pitu Riawa district of Sidrap Regency.

[A giant female reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) discovered in the Maros region of Sulawesi, Indonesia, in late 2025 is believed to be the longest wild snake to be formally measured, with evidence seen by GWR confirming a length of 7.22 m (23 ft 8 in) from head to tail tip on 18 January. SOURCE: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2026/2/indonesian-python-makes-gwr-hissstory-as-the-longest-measured-wild-snake]

The longest wild snake ever recorded is an Indonesian reticulated python measuring 7.22m(Image: guinnessworldrecords.com)

The head of the familys village, Suardi Rosi, said that the victim's husband had been searching for his wife in the nearby forest because she had not been home for a day, only to find the huge snake. The man then managed to capture the animal with the help of several other villagers.

He also added that this kind of danger is not one the villagers fear, since, he claimed, it was the first time something of the sort happened there.

Despite this, the previously documented case of a human being swallowed by a snake of the same type before Farida had occurred just two years earlier, in 2022, also in Indonesia. Then, 54-year-old Jahrah was found inside a python two days after being reported missing while on a harvesting errand.

In 2018, a similar case happened when Wa Tiba, also 54, disappeared while checking her vegetable garden - but her sandals and machete had been located around the area. She was also found after villagers cut open a python with a bloated stomach.

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