A MAN searching for his brother on a rubber plantation near Segamat in southern-central Malaysia found him being swallowed by a large python.
The snake was coiled around the dead body of Ee Heng Chuan, 29, a rubber tapper, with the victim's head gripped in its jaws.
It is believed to be the first substantiated case of a python attacking an adult human for ingestion in modern Malaysian history, although rural folklore is replete with tales of people disappearing down the throats of snakes.
When Ee had not returned three hours after going outside to start a generator, his mother sent her other son to look for him.
Realising that he could not free his brother from the snake's grip, Ee Heng Huan shouted for help and ran to a nearby police station.
When plantation workers who went to the scene shone torches on the python, it released Ee's head in a violent shaking motion and slithered away towards surrounding undergrowth.
By that time, police had arrived and Sergeant Abu Samah killed the snake with four shots from his rifle.