A 45-year-old woman identified as Farida went missing in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province

On June 6, a 45-year-old mother of four named Farida failed to return to her home in Kalempang, Indonesia at the end of the day. Her husband soon found her belongings suspiciously scattered on the ground nearby — then a search party spotted a 16-foot python with an extremely swollen stomach. And when they cut the python open, Farida's head was immediately visible inside. The python had plunged its teeth into her leg before squeezing her to death and swallowing her head first. Learn the full story behind this horrific attack.

A 45-year-old woman identified as Farida went missing in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province — then a search party found her body inside a 16-foot reticulated python.

Viral PressThe 16-foot python responsible for eating the mother of four.

Amother of four recently went missing while walking in the woodlands of Indonesia’s Kalempang village. Her husband grew suspicious when she didn’t return home, so he and a handful of villagers searched the nearby area.

The search party soon discovered a suspiciously plump, 16-foot reticulated python nearby and decided to cut it open — revealing the clothed, undigested body of the missing woman.

This incident marks the fifth time that a python has swallowed a human whole in Indonesia since 2017.

The Missing Woman Found Inside The Massive Snake

On June 6, the 45-year-old mother of four named Farida left her home in the Kalempang village in South Sulawesi province in the evening to sell food at a nearby market, but she failed to return home.
Worried for Farida’s safety, her husband Noni searched the village and found her belongings scattered around the forest. He then organized a search party for his wife, and they quickly discovered a suspiciously bloated 16-foot reticulated python nearby.

The villagers agreed to capture the snake and cut it open, revealing Farida’s body, fully-clothed and swallowed whole.
“They agreed to cut open the python’s stomach. As soon as they did, Farida’s head was immediately visible,” said village leader Suardi Rosi, according to CBS.

Video footage shows the disturbing moment when Farida’s body was extracted from the snake’s belly. Distressed villagers later wrapped her in blankets and carried her away to be buried.

The villagers believe that the python likely bit her leg before suffocating her and swallowing her whole. The nightmarish situation has deeply disturbed the small village, especially Farida’s husband.
“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,” he said, according to People. “I feel sorry for the suffering she went through. I am sorry for our family.”

The Disturbing Trend Of Humans Being Swallowed By Pythons

While rare, incidents like Farida’s are not unheard of in Indonesia. Since 2017, at least five people have been swallowed whole by pythons.
Reticulated pythons are lethal hunters that use their sharp teeth to latch onto prey before suffocating them with their enormous bodies. They are common in Indonesia and are frequently seen hunting wild pigs, monkeys, and other large mammals.
As the longest snake in the world, pythons are a top predator in Indonesia’s forests. They can grow to be more than 20 feet long, with the largest ever found reaching nearly 33 feet. They are also naturally aggressive, which makes them particularly terrifying for the humans that live alongside them.
In 2017, a farmer in West Sulawesi also went missing before being found eaten alive by a python on a palm oil plantation. Then, in 2018, a 54-year-old woman was eaten by a python while checking her vegetable garden in the Southeast Sulawesi town of Muna. In 2022, another woman in Indonesia’s Jambi province died the same way.

In 2023, residents of Southeast Sulawesi’s Tinanggea district killed a 26-foot python that was strangling and eating a farmer.
Now, this most recent incident in Kalempang marks yet another tragic and terrifying human encounter with the world’s longest snake.

After reading about the Indonesian mother swallowed whole by a python, dive into the story of Titanoboa, the largest snake to ever slither the Earth. Then, read the spine-tingling story of Snake Island, the Atlantic island infested with venomous vipers.

Amber Morgan was an Editorial Fellow for All That's Interesting from 2023 through 2025. She graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in political science and history, in which she earned academic honors, as well as Russian. Previously, she worked as a content creator for America House Kyiv, a Ukrainian organization focused on inspiring and engaging youth through cultural exchanges. She also served as a Public Diplomacy Intern with the U.S. Department of State in 2021.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.