I dont think it is fishy thomassssssss, I was called to help someone remove a python and unfortunately just as I arrives some ..... hero had helped out and decapitated it with good old 'mr shovel"!!!
apart from being totally devistated.... I noticed the poor snake kept moving and wriggling for ages, there is a saying I have heard that a snake wont stop wriggling 'til midnight' as in hours after its death.
So, if a 4 meter snake wrapped around someones neck, that person has minutes, maybe seconds to live unless the snake can be removed/unwrapped..... otherwise the snakes body will keep doing what it is doing (strangling) even if decisively killed.
I always cringe when I see Terri, Bindy and Robert Irwin holding up thier big python.... it could hold down Terri and Bindy and eat Robert at the same time.... in the blink of an eye!
In my untrained opinion, the only ways, or should I say, a couple of ways frinds or onlookers might successfully help would be if a co2 fire extinguisher was handy.... to spray the icy cold spray on the snake, or to grab, bend or even bite the tip of its tail, then the snake should/might go into 'self presivation mode' and stop doing what it is doing.
A good warning for big python owners I do agree.... I wont even get monty out of his enclosure on my own now he is aproaching 3m.
Condolences to the poor guys family..... a shame he didnt wait for the experts, I hope the snake stays well hidden and the locals dont just go on a snake killing rampage....