A teenage girl narrowly survived a horror python attack in her village in Indonesia.

Wa Ode Aprilia, 15, was heading home from a morning stroll when she was attacked by the mammoth snake lying in wait in a garden in Southeast Sulawesi on May 12.

The schoolgirl had been ambling through the tall grass when the 26ft predator, hidden in the undergrowth, surged and latched onto her leg.

Aprilia screamed and fell as sharp pain shot up her leg. The enormous python wrapped itself around her wispy frame trying to crush the life out of her.

The terrified schoolgirl's shrieks were heard by nearby residents, who rushed to her aid wielding machetes. They severed the beast's head and it soon loosened its grip on Aprilia.

Footage shows the tree trunk-sized predator lying dead with numerous cuts on its body.

Recounting the nightmare ordeal, a shaken Aprilia said: 'It grabbed my leg and quickly wrapped around my stomach. I fell down.

'Then it tried to coil around my mouth and nose. I lifted my head to avoid it, but the snake's tail swung trying to cover my nose again.

'A neighbour grabbed its tail and cut it. Then, the others struck its head with a machete. The bite loosened, though the body was still coiled around me. After the head was cut off, the snake's grip finally slackened.'

Wa Ode suffered a deep wound to her right leg. She said she was traumatised by the near-death experience and is now scared of leaving the house alone for fear of another python attack.

The teenager added: 'We've never seen any pythons in that garden before - this is the first time.'

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of python attacks in the world. The predators are able to grow to large sizes due to the abundance of food on the archipelago and lack of urban development.