A snake charmer had a brush with death when his pet python coiled around his neck and almost strangled him during a live show in Mau in Uttar Pradesh, India.

The snake charmer had wrapped an adult python around his neck during a show on Tuesday, but the snake tightened its grip and began to strangle him.

Many of the crowd thought it was part of the act and didn't realise the man was in trouble.

But they soon found out the act was all too real after he initially picked up the adult snake and allowed it to sit on his shoulders as he welcomed the crowd; slowly, the snake slithered up the man’s body and started to wrap itself around his neck.

The man appeared calm, acting as if he was simply wearing a turtleneck and continued to motion people to come closer.

Thirty seconds later, the man kneeled on the ground and appeared to be having trouble breathing.

Eventually, three men rushed to his help and freed him from the python. They took him to a local government hospital, where doctors treated him and later referred him to a second hospital. His condition is still unknown.

Snake charmers are common in India, but the reptiles have been known to turn on their handlers.

It would be recalled that a famous “snake whisperer” in Malaysia died last week after he was bitten by a cobra.

Also, Dan Brandon, a snake enthusiast in the U.K., was found suffocated to death near his pet python, “Tiny”, last year.

A coroner later confirmed there was “no doubt” the python had killed him.

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