Mum found dead inside gigantic python which had swallowed her whole

Daily Record

28-05-2025

Wa Tiba, 54, was found dead in a 23ft-long python in Indonesia after she went missing when she went to check on her cornfield, making her the second person in Indonesia to be killed and swallowed by a python in little over a year
A mother met a horrific end after she was killed and subsequently consumed by a python.
The woman, a resident of a village, became the second individual in Indonesia to be killed and digested by this species of snake in just over a year.
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54-year-old Wa Tiba left her home on Muna island to check her cornfield when she disappeared, as reported by the Jakarta Post. The field, situated about 800m from her house, was surrounded by caves, cliffs and several reticulated pythons - the world's longest snakes.
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Pythons typically prey on small mammals, with attacks on humans being as rare as winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning simultaneously, according to a report by the Washington Post.
However, in 2017, the year prior to Wa's tragic death, a man's body was retrieved from a 23-foot-long python, as shown in a disturbing YouTube video, reports the Mirror US.
Tiba had been worried about wild boars, not snakes, as she traversed her cornfield that night, the Jakarta Post reported. The pigs had been damaging the crops before she vanished, which is why she decided to inspect her field.
When she failed to return by dawn, her sister ventured out to the field in an attempt to find her.
Upon arrival, her sister discovered only Tiba's footprints, her torch, a machete and slippers. Approximately 100 villagers from Persiapan Lawela soon joined the search, combing the fields together, as reported by Agence France-Presse.
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The snake was found a few dozen yards from Tiba's belongings, reportedly measuring 23 feet long and so bloated it could barely move. A disturbing bulge midway down its body was clearly visible.
The villagers killed the snake and laid it out on the ground. They gathered around it, some recording videos as a man carefully cut across the bulge with a machete.
In a chilling echo of an incident on another island a year earlier, Tiba was found intact inside the snake, dressed as she had been when she went to check her corn.
Despite being found whole, it is unlikely that she died inside the snake. Reticulated pythons typically secure their prey with a bite, then wrap their bodies around the victim, squeezing until the victim cannot breathe, before consuming them, according to The Associated Press.
Human consumption by snakes is so rare, The Post noted, that hoaxes are more common. A single photo of a snake digesting a pig has previously been used to falsely claim attacks on humans in China, Africa and across Southeast Asia.
The two victims in Indonesia were extraordinarily unfortunate to fall prey to this species of snake under such rare circumstances.