Indonesia man swallowed whole by python, reports say

File photo of a python. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

An man was reportedly swallowed whole by a 23-foot-long python on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The 25-year-old man identified as Akbar was reported missing by villagers Monday night after realizing he hadn't returned from working on his palm oil crops the previous day.

Junaedi, the secretary of Salubiro village in West Sulawesi province, said Wednesday that the search party found scattered palm oil fruit, a picking tool and a boot, and then spotted the engorged reticulated python.

"When its stomach was cut, we first saw his boot and legs near the neck," he said. "It seems he was attacked from behind because we found a wound on his back."

A horrifying six-minute video on the website of the Tribun Timur publication shows villagers slicing open the python's carcass to reveal the legs and torso of the dead victim.

Junaedi told the Jakarta Post that villagers "heard cries from tthe palm grove the night before Akbar was found."

Reticulated pythons grab onto their prey with dozens of sharp curved teeth and then squeeze it to death before swallowing it whole. They are widespread in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Reports of humans being killed by pythons are extremely rare. In the wild they are known to eat monkeys, pigs and other mammals.

Junaedi said Akbar's absence wasn't noticed until Monday because his wife was visiting her parents in another province. The alarm was raised when his uncle called on him and found his house locked.

According to the Jakarta Post, Akbar's wife, Munu, found out her husband was dead only when pictures and video emerged in the news.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.