A 25-year-old motorcyclist in Indonesia was killed when a 22ft python sprang from undergrowth, clamped onto his leg as he stopped by the roadside, then coiled round his neck
A motorcycle rider was killed by a giant python that pounced on him in Indonesia. Lifas, 25, was heading to a plantation in Taliabu Regency, North Maluku, for work when the serpent struck from the undergrowth, in the early hours of June 23.
He was riding a motorcycle through a dirt road lined with trees and tall grass. But while pulling over to relieve himself on the roadside, the hidden 22ft python suddenly latched onto his leg.
He fell over in pain before the beast coiled tightly around his torso and neck. The python squeezed the air out of his lungs, with no one to hear his cries for help.
But before the python could eat its victims, the gruesome scene was discovered by passing motorist Reju, 39, who saw Lifas blue-skinned and motionless with the reptile wrapped around his body. As the python was too large to grapple with alone, Reju rushed to a nearby police outpost to seek help.
Officers and villagers arrived with machetes and hacked the snake to death. However, Lifas was no longer breathing when they freed him. Following the tragedy, local police chief Adnan Wahyu Kashogi urged residents to be vigilant when passing through forested areas.
He said: “We ask all citizens heading to plantations, especially alone, to be careful of being attacked by wild animals. Do not forget to bring adequate equipment to help defend yourself from sudden attacks.”
Lifas’s body was later collected and taken to a hospital for a post-mortem examination. The incident comes just two weeks after a mother was killed by a python in the same province.
Elisabet Yamalau, 44, was tending cattle in her garden when she was reportedly attacked by a monstrous 25-foot reticulated python in Pulau Taliabu Regency, North Maluku, on June 9. Her husband, Benyamin Lanto, 52, went searching when she failed to return home that evening.
He found her partially inside the snake’s mouth and hacked the reptile to death, but she had already died at the scene, police said. The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where it lives in forests, swamps, canals, and even cities, leading to conflicts with humans.
The species is one of the world’s largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats, and other snakes. Because it can grow to large sizes, it is also capable of killing humans by constriction.
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