The lush Indonesian island of Bali is a tropical paradise full of world-class hotels, amazing beaches and ridiculous yoga retreats. It’s also home to the occasional terrorist bombing (2002 and 2005) and, of course, killer pythons.
One of those pythons strangled a security guard to death outside the Bali Hyatt, a luxury hotel in Bali’s Sanur area on Friday, reports the Daily Mail.
The victim, 59-year-old Ambar Arianto Mulyo, was an employee at a restaurant nearby.
He managed to capture the 15-foot-long snake, which had for awhile been menacing the hotel (which is, thankfully, closed for renovations until 2015).
Mulyo spotted the snake and successfully got his hands on the serpent’s head and tail. Then, however, he made the fatal mistake of hoisting the python on his shoulders.
The snake wrapped itself around Mulyo in a flash and suffocated him.
Horrified onlookers watched the strangulation occur but there was nothing they could to do save the man, according to Agung Bawa, a security employee of the hotel, and a witness to the terrible scene.
“It happened so fast,” Bawa said, according to the Mail. “We were sad because we could not do anything to help him.”
By the time police arrived, Mulyo was dead.
Meanwhile, the python slithered away into some shrubs. Police haven’t found it.
Pythons typically live in rainforests, grassland and savanna, and in woodland and swamp areas. They can grow to over 30 feet in length, depending on the species.
The snakes are not venomous. Instead, they suffocate their prey and devour it—head first. They are known to feast on many different kinds of animals including rodents, birds, lizards and pigs.
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