MELBOURNE (Reuters) -The charter plane carrying the body of Shane Warne landed in his home city of Melbourne on Thursday evening after an eight-hour flight from Thailand, where the Australian cricketing great died last week at the age of 52.
Warne died while on holiday on the Thai island of Koh Samui last Friday. Local authorities said an autopsy showed his death was caused by a suspected heart attack and congenital disease.
On Thursday morning, his coffin, wrapped in the Australian flag, was taken from the morgue to Bangkok airport before being loaded onto a private Dassault Falcon 7X jet.
The popular former spin-bowler and media personality will be buried at a private funeral, his family said last week.
A state memorial service will follow at the 100,000-seater Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on March 30.
Dan Andrews, the Premier of the state of Victoria, said the evening service would be free and a large turnout could be expected.
“There will be no limits on crowds and that sort of stuff,” he said.
“It will be a very big event. It will be a celebration of his life as it should be.”
Warne took his 700th test wicket in front of a crowd of 89,155 at the MCG during the fourth Ashes test against England on Boxing Day, 2006. The Great Southern Stand at the stadium will soon be renamed in his honour.
A statue of Warne outside the cavernous arena has become an impromptu shrine to the leg-spinner, who was popular as much for his effervescent and grounded personality as his all but peerless skill with the cricket ball.
Tributes from across the world have continued to pour in for Warne since his death, both from fellow cricketing greats and the likes of rock star Mick Jagger and Oscar winner Russell Crowe.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Warne “one of our nation’s greatest characters”.
(Reporting by Juarawee Kittisilpa in Bangkok and Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, additional writing by Ed Davies. Editing by Lincoln Feast and Toby Davis)
