Shane Warne ate Vegemite on toast as his last meal hours before he died of a suspected heart attack at a villa in Thailand, a close friend reveals.
Sporting News chief executive Tom Hall was one of four friends holidaying with the 52-year-old at the Samujana resort on the island of Koh Samui on Friday.
Hall, who met Warne at a charity poker tournament 15 years ago, lifted the lid on the leg spinner’s final moments including a very unexpected act of kindness.
Shane Warne ate Vegemite on toast as his last meal hours before he died of a suspected heart attack at a villa in Thailand, a close friend reveals
Sporting News chief executive Tom Hall was one of four friends holidaying with the 52-year-old at the Samujana resort on the island of Koh Samui on Friday
Sporting News CEO Tom Hall was one of four friends holidaying with the 52-year-old at the Samujana resort on the island of Koh Samui on Friday
‘I have dined with Shane in many fine establishments, but rather than sample some of the local Thai fare, we tuck into a plate of Vegemite on toast,’ he wrote on Sporting News.
‘Shane chomping away: ‘Geez, you can’t beat Vegemite with some butter, always great wherever you are in the world’.
On the same day, Hall and his holidaying friends Neo, Gaz, and Fred were discussing with Warne the best way to watch the Australia vs Pakistan Test on TV.
The cricket legend then ducked into his room before emerging with a very surprising set of gifts for Hall.
‘Shane had been working with me at The Sporting News for the past year or so and he presented me with his jumper from the 2005 Ashes Test, his 2008 IPL shirt and a one-day international shirt and cap to place in the TSN offices in Australia and the UK,’ Hall wrote.
Paramedic Anuch Han-iam told British tabloid The Sun there were four or five other men in Warne’s room at the Koh Samui villa when he and a colleague arrived on Friday afternoon local time.
Warne’s friends were trying to revive the 52-year-old before Mr Anuch took over CPR.
‘They were desperate. I think one was crying. They were really stressed and panicked,’ the paramedic told the newspaper.
‘They kept trying to wake him and I heard someone saying, ‘come on, Shane. Come on, Shane’.
‘I could see they were all shocked and I just tried to concentrate and do my best.’
Mr Anuch said the room was clean and there were no signs of partying such as beer or cigarettes.
‘I did my best for him and gave all my energy. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t help him.’
A state funeral will be held in Victoria after Warne’s family accepted an offer from the state government.
Warne’s body was being moved for an autopsy in the main state hospital in Surat Thani province on Sunday.
Shane Warne has left behind a legacy of one of Australia’s most influential and popular sportsmen
Two pools of blood had stained the carpet at the foot of Warne’s bed. Nearby were three blood-stained towels and one blood-stained pillow, with bloodstains also soaking into the mattress. Police said the blood was there as a result of frantic CPR carried out on the cricket legend
He had been staying in a private villa with three friends, one of whom performed CPR after finding him unresponsive when he did not show up for dinner.
He was taken by ambulance to Thai International Hospital and later his body was transferred to Koh Samui Hospital.
His death is not being treated as suspicious.
Yuttana Sirisombat, superintendent at the Bo Phut police station, told reporters Warne had been suffering chest pains before arriving in Thailand.
He also had asthma and had seen a doctor about his heart.
Warne’s manager said the cricketer had finished a ‘ridiculous’ diet of consuming only fluids days before his death.
‘He did go on these ridiculous sort of diets, and he was just finished with one,’ James Erskine told Nine’s Weekend Today on Sunday.
‘It was a bit all or nothing. It was either white buns with butter and lasagna stuffed in the middle or he would be having black and green juices.
‘He obviously smoked most of his life. I don’t know. I think it was just a massive heart attack.’
Pictured: The body of Australian cricket player Shane Warne is transported from Koh Samui Hospital mortuary
Shane Warne’s body was taken from Samujana Villas to the nearby Thai International Hospital on Thailand’s Koh Samui
Erskine told Fox Cricket Warne was only three days into a planned three-month holiday and alone watching cricket when he fell ill.
His friend Andrew Neophitou, who was among the group staying in the same villa, went to check on him.
‘They were going to have a drink … or go and meet someone to go out and have a drink at 5pm and Neo knocked on his door at 5.15 pm because Warnie is always on time,’ Erskine said.
‘He went in there … and then realised something was wrong. And he turned him over and gave him CPR and mouth-to-mouth, which lasted about 20 minutes and then the ambulance came.’
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Sunday Warne’s family had accepted the government’s offer of a state funeral, with more details in coming days.
‘It will be an opportunity for Victorians to pay tribute to his contribution to his sport, to our state and the country,’ Andrews said.
