AP

Body of cricket great Shane Warne arrives back in Australia

Mar 9, 2022, 2:36 AM | Updated: Mar 10, 2022, 4:02 am

In this image made from video, a van leaves Thai Police Forensic Institute with the body of Austral...

In this image made from video, a van leaves Thai Police Forensic Institute with the body of Australian cricket great Shane Warne and taken an international airport in Bangkok Thailand, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Warne, who died last Friday while holidaying with friends on Samui Island in the south of Thailand, is being flown back to his hometown of Melbourne by private jet later Thursday. (AP Video via AP)

(AP Video via AP)


              In this image made from video, a van leaves Thai Police Forensic Institute with the body of Australian cricket great Shane Warne and taken an international airport in Bangkok Thailand, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Warne, who died last Friday while holidaying with friends on Samui Island in the south of Thailand, is being flown back to his hometown of Melbourne by private jet later Thursday. (AP Video via AP)
            
              A private jet carrying the coffin of Australian cricket great Shane Warne taxies to a hangar at Essendon Airport in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Warne, who died Friday, March 4, while holidaying with friends on Samui Island in the south of Thailand, arrived back in his hometown of Melbourne by private jet. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)
            
              In this photo released by the Royal Thai Police, Assistant National Police Chief General Surachate Hakparn, right, talks with Australia's Ambassador to Thailand Allan McKinnon during a press conference at the Bo Phut police station on Koh Samui island, southern Thailand, Monday, March 7, 2022. Police in Thailand said Monday that an autopsy conducted on the body of Australian cricket star Shane Warne has concluded and he died last Friday of natural causes. (Royal Thai Police via AP)
            
              In this image made from video, a van leaves Thai Police Forensic Institute with the body of Australian cricket great Shane Warne and taken an international airport in Bangkok Thailand, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Warne, who died last Friday while holidaying with friends on Samui Island in the south of Thailand, is being flown back to his hometown of Melbourne by private jet later Thursday. (AP Video via AP)
            
              In this photo released by the Royal Thai Police, Assistant National Police Chief General Surachate Hakparn, right, talks with Australia's Ambassador to Thailand Allan McKinnon during a press conference at the Bo Phut police station on Koh Samui island, southern Thailand, Monday, March 7, 2022. Police in Thailand said Monday that an autopsy conducted on the body of Australian cricket star Shane Warne has concluded and he died last Friday of natural causes. (Royal Thai Police via AP)
            
              In this image made from video, a van leaves Thai Police Forensic Institute with the body of Australian cricket great Shane Warne and taken an international airport in Bangkok Thailand, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Warne, who died last Friday while holidaying with friends on Samui Island in the south of Thailand, is being flown back to his hometown of Melbourne by private jet later Thursday. (AP Video via AP)
            
              People pay their respects at the statue of cricket legend Shane Warne outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, March 5, 2022. Warne, widely regarded as one of the greatest players, most astute tacticians and ultimate competitors in the long history of cricket, has died of a suspected heart attack Friday, March 4, 2022, in Koh Samui, Thailand. He was 52. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
            
              Pakistan and Australia cricket team players  pay tribute to Shane Warne at the start of 2nd day play of the first cricket test match between them at the Pindi Stadium, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Saturday, March 5, 2022. Warne, widely regarded as one of the greatest players, most astute tacticians and ultimate competitors in the long history of cricket, has died. He was 52. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
            
              An ambulance carrying the body of Shane Warne moves from Surat Thani Hospital in the southern of Thailand to Suvarnabhumi International Airport before sending him back to Australia Monday, March 7, 2022. Police in Thailand said Monday that an autopsy conducted on the body of Australian cricket star Shane Warne has concluded that he died of natural causes. (AP Photo/Thanapat Cherajin)
            
              An ambulance carrying the body of Shane Warne moves from Surat Thani Hospital in the southern of Thailand to Suvarnabhumi International Airport before sending him back to Australia Monday, March 7, 2022. Police in Thailand said Monday that an autopsy conducted on the body of Australian cricket star Shane Warne has concluded that he died of natural causes. (AP Photo/Thanapat Cherajin)
            
              An ambulance carrying the body of Shane Warne moves from Surat Thani Hospital in the southern of Thailand to Suvarnabhumi International Airport before sending him back to Australia Monday, March 7, 2022. Police in Thailand said Monday that an autopsy conducted on the body of Australian cricket star Shane Warne has concluded that he died of natural causes. (AP Photo/Thanapat Cherajin)
            
              An ambulance carrying the body of Shane Warne moves from Surat Thani Hospital in the southern of Thailand to Suvarnabhumi International Airport before sending him back to Australia Monday, March 7, 2022. Police in Thailand said Monday that an autopsy conducted on the body of Australian cricket star Shane Warne has concluded that he died of natural causes. (AP Photo/Thanapat Cherajin)
            
              A police officer collects a preliminary autopsy report on cricket legend Shane Warne from the forensic department at the Surat Thani Hospital southern Thailand, Monday, March 7, 2022. Warne died on Friday, March 4, 2022, from an apparent heart attack on the Thailand resort island of Koh Samui. He was 52. (AP Photo/Thanapat Cherajin)
            
              A motorcycle leaves the parking lot of the Surat Thani Hospital where the body of cricket legend Shane Warne sent from the island of Koh Samui for an autopsy in Surat Thani province southern Thailand, Monday, March 7, 2022. Warne died on Friday, March 4, 2022, from an apparent heart attack on the Thailand resort island of Koh Samui. He was 52. (AP Photo/Thanapat Cherajin)
            
              A police officer collects the preliminary autopsy report on cricket legend Shane Warne from the forensic department at the Surat Thani Hospital southern Thailand, Monday, March 7, 2022. Warne died on Friday, March 4, 2022, from an apparent heart attack on the Thailand resort island of Koh Samui. He was 52. (AP Photo/Thanapat Cherajin)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The body of cricket great Shane Warne is back in Australia.

Just before dawn outside Bangkok his coffin — draped in an Australian flag — was put into an ambulance at the Thai Police Forensic Institute and driven to an international airport. A private jet flew Warne’s body back to his hometown of Melbourne, landing at Essendon airport about 10 hours later.

Local media said family members were at the airport when his body arrived about 8:30 p.m.

Warne was widely regarded as one of the top players of all time. He died last Friday while on vacation with friends on Samui Island in southern Thailand. An autopsy report said the 52-year-old Warne died of a suspected heart attack.

The Victoria state government is planning to host a state memorial service for Warne on March 30 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, home to many of Warne’s greatest sports moments, after the family holds a private funeral.

“There’s nowhere in the world more appropriate to farewell Warnie than the ‘G,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews posted Wednesday on social media.

The MCG was the stage of Warne’s famous Ashes hat trick in 1994 and his 700th test wicket on Boxing Day in 2006 during his final series before retiring from international cricket. He was born and raised in Melbourne.

Warne’s family issued a statement late Monday describing the night of his death on March 4 as the beginning of “a never-ending nightmare.”

___

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