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Devastating image emerges as Shane Warne's body returns home

Andrew Reid
·3-min read
In this photo, Shane Warne's mum Brigitte is seen holding a single rose as she waits for her son's body to return home from Thailand.
Shane Warne's mum Brigitte could be seen holding a single rose as she waited for her son's body to return home from Thailand. Pic: AAP

The body of the late Aussie cricket great Shane Warne has arrived back home in Melbourne, with a small group of family members on hand to mark the tragic occasion.

Almost one week since the 52-year-old died of a suspected heart attack in a Koh Samui Villa in Thailand, Warne's body arrived in Melbourne on a flight from Thailand just after 8.30pm on Thursday night.

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Pictures from Thailand earlier on Thursday showed Warne's casket - draped in an Australian flag - being loaded into the back of an ambulance in preparation for the nine-hour flight by private jet from from Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport to Melbourne.

This photo shows the casket of Australian cricket player Shane Warne loaded into a vehicle at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok on Thursday.
The casket of Australian cricket player Shane Warne is loaded into a vehicle at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok on Thursday. Pic: Getty

The Dassault Falcon 7X jet that left Thailand's capital Bangkok at 8.25am local time, arrived at Melbourne's Essendon Fields Airport around 8.35pm.

The jet taxied to a private hangar where police officers were stationed outside.

Warne's tragic death has left the world devastated, with tributes to Australia's greatest ever bowler pouring in from across the world.

Among the most heartbreaking of those have been from Warne's family, some of whom gathered at the hangar to receive his body.

Warne's eldest daughter Brooke and son Jackson were at the hangar as was his ex-wife, Simone Callahan.

So too were Warne's dad Keith and mother Brigitte, who was pictured standing in the hangar holding a single white rose in heartbreaking moment.

Pictured here, several members of Warne's immediate family were at at the hangar in Melbourne waiting for his body to return home from Thailand.
Several members of Warne's immediate family were at at the hangar in Melbourne waiting for his body to return home from Thailand. Pic: AAP

Shane Warne's state funeral on March 30 at the MCG

Following his death on the Thai resort island of Koh Samui last week, Warne's body was taken by ferry to the mainland city of Surat Thani, and then on to Bangkok.

Thai Police said earlier this week autopsy results showed Warne's death was due to natural causes.

Warne's family has accepted the Victorian government's offer of a state funeral, to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 30.

The MCG was the stage of the leg spinner's famous Ashes hat-trick in 1994 and 700th Test wicket on Boxing Day in 2006, his final series before he retired from international cricket.

The stadium is across town from Upper Ferntree Gully, the outer Melbourne suburb where Warne was born.

Warne's family issued a statement on Monday night describing the night of his death as the beginning of "a never-ending nightmare".

"Looking to a future without Shane is inconceivable," his father and mother said.

"Hopefully the mountain of happy memories we all have will help us cope with our ongoing grief."

Ticket information for the state funeral is yet to be released, but the Victorian premier said there will no crowd cap at the venue, which can hold up to 100,000 spectators.

"It's a fitting venue to say goodbye to someone who created so many indelible memories on that ground," Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters at parliament on Thursday.

with AAP

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