Missing Indonesian woman found in stomach of 22-foot python

A woman who was reported missing in Indonesia was found in a python’s stomach, according to officials.

The 54-year-old left to work on a rubber plantation near Jambi, on the northeast coast of Sumatra, early Sunday, Oct. 23, according to local police, KalingaTV reported. She never returned home.

By Sunday evening, the woman’s husband went looking for her, police said, according to CNN Indonesia. As he searched the plantation, he located her sandals, a knife, a headscarf and a jacket.

After an unsuccessful search on Sunday, villagers continued searching on Monday. That’s when they stumbled upon a 22-foot python with a bloated stomach, according to KalingaTV.

“The victim was found in the snake’s stomach,” Betara Jambi police chief AKP S Harefa told local media outlets, according to BBC. The woman’s body was intact when it was retrieved.

Pythons are constrictors, so they suffocate their prey before eating them, according to the San Diego Zoo. The snake grabs its prey with its teeth before coiling around it and squeezing until the prey can no longer breathe. The python then swallows its prey whole, usually head first.

Depending on their size, pythons typically eat small animals such as rodents, birds, lizards or small mammals like such as monkeys and pigs.

A villager told KalingaTV that he estimates it took the python about two hours to suffocate and swallow the woman.

Google Translate was used to translate the story from CNN Indonesia.