The police and locals carried out a thorough sweep up to a radius of 1 kilometer from the scene in Persiapan Lawela village, Lohia district, and searched caves and rocky cliffs known to be home to snakes on Monday, Muna Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agung Ramos Sinaga said.

“We found a number of caves covered by bushes on rocky cliffs,” Agung said on Tuesday. “But when we searched the area, we found no sign of snakes.”

Wa Tiba, a 54-year-old housewife, disappeared on Thursday night last week after she went to inspect her corn plantation 1 kilometer from her house.

Village head Faris, who quoted Wa Tiba’s family, said she wanted to check the plantation because wild boars often destroyed crops.

Her family became anxious as by 6 a.m. the next day she had not returned home.

Her sister went to look for her at the plantation, only to find her footprints, a torch, slippers and a machete on the ground.

She immediately asked for help from locals, who found a big python with a swollen belly near the plantation.

The locals killed the snake and dissected its stomach, in which they found Wa Tiba’s body.

Authorities warned locals to remain cautious when working on their farms located near cliffs and caves

Faris said villagers often found pythons roaming around rocky areas where the incident took place. “A couple of months ago, a calf was swallowed alive [by a python],” he said.

The police, meanwhile, will soon meet with the Southeast Sulawesi Natural Resources Conservation Agency to coordinate and prevent such incidents from happening again in villages near the snake’s habitat, Agung said.

The incident, which is believed to have occurred due to conversion of forests into farms leading to human-animal conflict, has been in the spotlight of the international media.

Last year in West Sulawesi, residents of Salubiro village in Central Mamuju regency were shocked by an incident where a large python swallowed an oil palm plantation worker.

Just like in the case in Southeast Sulawesi, locals spotted a 7-meter-long python in the bushes near the farm of Ahmad, the 25-year-old plantation worker who went missing after setting off to harvest palm oil.

Residents used a large knife to cut open the giant reptile’s belly and found his body inside.

Horrifying footage, which was uploaded to social media, showed the corpse being slowly removed from the killer reptile.

Shocked by the incident, farmers in the village stayed at home for days, despite their plantations being ready for harvest.

Meanwhile in North Sulawesi, snake dishes, including python meat, can commonly be found, particularly in Manado, the province’s capital where snake meat is sold at traditional markets. (ipa)