Akbar Salubiro was a 25-year-old man who went missing on March 25, 2017,[1] after setting off for harvest in a remote village on the western part of the island Sulawesi, Indonesia. Akbar's remains were found two days later inside the body of a reticulated python.[2]
Disappearance and discovery of body
The morning after Salubiro was reported missing, a search party was sent out,[3][4] and his family became worried and called the police.[5] Later that day, the snake that had eaten Salubiro slithered into Salubiro's backyard near an oil palm plantation. People saw that it had difficulty moving due to its large belly, an official stated. Residents then cut open the belly of the snake and found Salubiro dead inside. People said they heard cries from the palm grove the night before Salubiro was found eaten by the snake.[6]
Aftermath
The death of Akbar Salubiro was the first fully confirmed case of a reticulated python (or in fact any snake) killing and consuming an adult human,[7] as the process of retrieving the body from the python's stomach was documented by pictures and videos taken by witnesses.[8][9][10][11]
Similar cases
On June 14, 2018, a 54-year-old woman named Wa Tiba, also of Sulawesi, was also eaten by a reticulated python that had slithered into her garden at her home.[12][13] In 2022 another 54-year old missing Sumatran woman from Jambi named Jahrah[14] was found inside a python, making this the third fully documented swallowing of an adult human.[15] On 7 June 2024, the fourth confirmed case of full consumption appeared after a woman named Farida was found to have been devoured by a reticulated python.[16]
3 weeks later, in July 2024, another woman named Siriati was discovered inside a python's stomach in South Sulawesi.[17]
