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NEW STRAITS TIMES (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) 18 September 06 Villagers rescue tapper from python (Lau Meisan)
Segamat: He had never seen such a huge snake before and Tan Yeen Ching is lucky to be alive to tell the tale.
About 11.30pm on Friday, the 37-year-old rubber tapper heard a noise from the chicken coop behind his home in Kampung Tengah.
"I went out with a torchlight to check and saw a python swallowing a chicken. I thought it was only a small snake, so I just yanked it out," he said.
It wrapped itself around his right arm and after a half-hour battle, 20 people had to rescue Tan from the six-metre-long snake.
Tan’s father and brother initially tried to pull it back by holding its tail and gripping its head firmly.
"But that only aggravated it, and my arm started to go numb."
Hearing the family’s cries for help, the villagers rushed over and managed to uncoil the reptile and release Tan.
"It was the first time I had ever seen such a huge snake," he said, cradling his bruised arm.
Still traumatised, Tan said the family did not want to kill the 20kg snake and released it back into the jungle on Saturday.
The incident brings to mind the bizarre death of 29-year-old rubber tapper Ee Heng Chuan in 1995.
Ee, from Tenang, 20km from Kampung Tengah, is believed to have stepped on a seven-metre-long python.
He died of suffocation as the snake had swallowed his head before police arrived and shot it.
Villagers rescue tapper from python
