A grandmother was killed and devoured by a huge 14ft python in a forest in Indonesia.

Maga, 74, had taken her cows to graze in a forested area in the Sumarambu mountains, around a mile from her home in Palopo City in South Sulawesi province on August 14.

However, she never returned home, sparking worry among her family.

The grandmother's son, Sanaria, 39, ventured into the woods on August 15 and found blood spatters on the ground near a cottage where Maga usually stays.

Not far away, her lifeless body was sprawled in the grass. She reportedly had bite marks on her head and ankles, and was believed to have been regurgitated by a python.

Sanaria carried his mother back home, as emotional family members wailed in hysterics over her sudden death.

Iptu Yusran Sa' buran, Deputy Chief of the Telluwanua Police, said: 'After the residents gathered at the location with the police and also local government staff, the victim's body was then examined and it was confirmed that she was killed by a snake. She had been swallowed up to the her shoulders but then regurgitated.

'Residents and the family of the deceased then searched around the scene and not far from it, in the bushes, a python with a length of approximately four meters was found.'

The villagers killed the snake and brought its mangled corpse back to Maga's home to be buried there.

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans.

The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.