A 45-year-old woman was killed by a five-metre python while returning from her garden in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province, local media reported on Saturday.

The woman, a resident of Sidenreng Rappang district had told her husband on Thursday she was going to sell chilies to a collector.

When she failed to return, her husband and relatives initiated a search, village head Suardi Rosi said.

The next morning, a python was discovered near the woman’s abandoned belongings, Rosi said.

Villagers, accustomed to the presence of these formidable predators, killed the snake and cut it open, revealing the woman’s body inside, the village head said.

(dpa/NAN)