SULA ISLANDS, NORTH MALUKU, INDONESIA – JULY 27, 2026 Farmer Hasim Lumbesi, according to various sources aged between 35 and 40, tragically died while returning home to the village of Waisakai from a dance celebration in the neighboring village of Kobo. The route led several kilometers through dense forest, and because he was walking alone, no one immediately noticed his disappearance.
When Hasim Lumbesi still had not returned home the following day, his family and village residents began searching for him. In the afternoon, they found his bag, flashlight, and other personal belongings near a forest trail, raising fears that something had happened to him. Search teams continued combing the surrounding forest until the evening.
At around 8 p.m., villagers came across a massive reticulated python measuring more than seven meters long. The snake’s body was heavily swollen and it was barely able to move. Locals therefore concluded that it might have swallowed the missing man. They killed the python, and after cutting open its body, they found Hasim Lumbesi’s remains inside. The remains were then transported back to Waisakai, where they were handed over to the family for burial.
The reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) is the longest snake in the world and commonly grows to lengths exceeding six meters, with some individuals reaching more than eight meters. Although it primarily feeds on pigs, deer, and monkeys, it is capable of killing humans in rare cases. Such attacks are recorded almost exclusively in Indonesia, where people often work or travel alone in dense tropical forests that are the natural habitat of these snakes. Most known cases end with the victim being strangled and then swallowed whole, with the body usually discovered only after the snake has been killed and cut open.
