It was Andrew Neophitou, close friend and associate of Shane Warne, that found him unresponsive in his villa on the Thai island of Koh Samui.
Neophitou, an executive producer on the recently released documentary ‘Shane’, found his friend unconscious with the historic first Test match between Australia and Pakistan playing on the television.
Warne, who was meant to meet his friends downstairs for dinner was late, something that made Neophitou go and check up on him.
Neophitou is believed to have been staying in the room next door to Warne at the luxury Samujana Villas.
The two were meeting with Gareth Edwards, who runs Warne’s website, and Warne’s friend John Dopere, general manager of the Villas, Herald Sun reported.
“They were meant to meet some people at 5pm. Neo (Neophytou) was next door, he’s always on time,” Warne’s long-time manager James Erskine said.
“And he went in there and said ‘come on, you’re going to be late’ and then realised something was wrong. He turned him over and gave him CPR and mouth to mouth, which lasted about 20 minutes and then the ambulance came. They took him to the hospital, which was about a 20-minute drive and I got a phone call about 45 minutes later saying he was pronounced dead.”
Neophitou, briefly speaking to reporters said “We just really want to get Shane home”.
Thai police in Koh Samui on Saturday confirmed they had now ruled out any suspicious circumstances in the tragic death after forensic investigators examined the room where his body was found. However, blood stains were seen on the carpet and on three towels and a pillow.
“No foul play was suspected at the scene based on our investigation,” Thai police told AFP while Warnes’ family confirmed that he had recently seen a doctor for his heart following chest pains, adding that “no drug substance was detected in Warne’s body”, without giving further details.
“A large amount of blood was found in the room,” Pol Maj Gen Satit Polpinit, commander of Surat Thani Provincial Police, told Thai newspaper Matichon.
“When CPR was started, the deceased had coughed up liquid and was bleeding.”
