Elderly Woman Found Dead After Python Attack in Central Indonesia
An elderly woman in central Indonesia was found dead after a horrifying encounter with a python, marking the third such fatality in the province within three months.
Maga, a 74-year-old woman, was reported missing by her family on Wednesday after she failed to return home. The anxious search led to a grim discovery by her daughter in the Padang Lambe district of Palopo City, South Sulawesi province.
Supriadi, a police spokesman in Palopo, confirmed the tragic incident, explaining that Maga was presumably killed by the snake’s constriction and bites. “She was found dead presumably ‘because of being constricted and bitten by the snake’,” Supriadi stated. The python responsible for the attack measured an alarming four meters (13 feet) in length.
Awaluddin, head of the Padang Lambe district, provided further details. Maga was discovered with bite marks on her head and legs, a result of her fatal encounter while working in a field near her home. The snake was found just meters away from Maga’s body.
In a distressing turn of events, locals killed the snake, which they claimed had swallowed Maga up to her shoulders before regurgitating her.
A growing concern
While deaths caused by large constrictors are rare, Indonesia has seen a disturbing rise in such incidents. Just last month, a woman in Siteba village, South Sulawesi, was found dead inside the belly of a python that had swallowed her whole. Similarly, in June, another woman met a tragic end inside a reticulated python in a different district of South Sulawesi.
These recent incidents echo previous tragedies on Sulawesi island. In 2018 and 2017, similar fatal encounters with large pythons were reported, including an eight-meter python that killed and consumed a farmer.
The rising frequency of these attacks has left communities on edge, grappling with the terrifying reality of living alongside these powerful predators.