Bangkok: Legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne, who passed away on Friday following a suspected heart-attack, ‘had experienced chest pains prior to his death in Thailand and had asthma and some heart issues’, according to Irish Times quoting the Thai police.
One of the greatest spinners of all time, Warne passed away aged 52 a day after arriving in Koh Samui, Thailand for a vacation.
Quoting Yuttana Sirisombat, superintendent at the Bo Phut police station on Koh Samui, the report said that, Warne “had asthma and had seen a doctor about his heart”.
“We learned from his family that he had experienced chest pains when he was back home in his country,” added the police officer.
Warne was reportedly watching the opening day of the inaugural Test between Pakistan and Australia in Rawalpindi when he suffered a suspected heart-attack. He was reportedly given CPR by his associates when they discovered he was unconscious in his room in a villa.
Police have ruled out foul play and superintendent Yuttana declined to comment about the likely cause of Warne’s death. He informed that the legendary cricketer’s body would be transferred to Surat Thani on the Thai mainland later on Sunday for autopsy.
The report added that the Australian embassy officials, assisting Thai police, had declined to comment to media queries.
The report also added Warne’s three associates, who shared the villa with him, were ‘interviewed’ for two hours at the Bo Phut police station. Police have said that Warne’s associates were not under suspicion and it was a procedural meeting.
A grief-stricken Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has offered Warne’s family a state funeral.
“Shane was one of our greatest cricketers of all time… but Shane was more than this to Australians. Shane was one of our nation’s greatest characters,” Morrison said in a statement.
–IANS