by An Indonesian man has reigned victorious, but not unscathed, in a ʙʟᴏᴏᴅʏ ꜰɪɢʜᴛ to the ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ with a 23-foot-long python who was blocking the path of two pedestrians.
You’ve got to admit, most of us would probably choose to wait it out in the cradle of safety for the python to be on his merry way, but brave Robert Nababan was having none of it.
In a serious case of road impatience which nearly brought Nababan to an early ᴅᴇᴍɪsᴇ, the 37-year-old decided to hurry the snake along with a little roadside fisticuffs.
Robert Nababan says he came across the huge reptile on a road on his way home from work in the Indragiri Hulu Regency of Riau Province in Indonesia. The 37-year-old was riding his moped when he saw two pedestrians blocked from crossing the road by the giant snake.
From his hospital bed, he related the story of how he had tried to get hold of the massive creature. “I tried to catch it,” he said. “But it bit my arm and we ᴡʀᴇsᴛʟᴇᴅ for a while.”
The snake’s giant body is shown in pictures strung across Mr Nababan’s village like a washing line. After an exhausting sᴛʀᴜɢɢʟᴇ he ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ the reptile but was rushed to hospital for his ᴡᴏᴜɴᴅs to be ᴛʀᴇᴀᴛᴇᴅ, suffering from a ᴅᴇᴇᴘ ɪɴᴄɪsɪᴏɴ in his arm and severe ᴇxʜᴀᴜsᴛɪᴏɴ.
The unlucky snake may be a reticulated python – the largest specimens of which can sometimes reach seven metres (23 feet). The Guinness World record for the longest snake ever to be held in captivity was for a reticulated python called Medusa that measured a whopping 7.67 metres (25 feet 2 inches).
Indonesian media noted an ᴇɴᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀ with a similarly huge snake in March had gone much worse for a West Sulawesi man, who was found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in the reptile’s stomach.
