Phyton kills teenager

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 03/20/2010 5:59 PM

A phyton attacked and killed a junior high school student in the North Sumatra regency of Deli Serdang as he and his school mates were swimming in a river, Antara reported Saturday.

Local people ran for a help and used bamboo poles to beat the giant snake as it was trying to swallow M. Zakaria. The seven-meter-long snake released its human prey due to its wounds.

The residents rushed Zakaria to Mitra Husada Hospital, but doctors could not save his life.

A friend of Zakaria who survived the attack on Thursday said the snake came out of a cave on the river bank. He said Zakaria was so exhausted that he could not escape from the phyton.

On Friday the local people captured a phyton near the same river, but they believed the snake was not the one that killed Zakaria.