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A grieving mother from the upcountry town of Coober Pedy told friends she no longer wanted to live after finding the body of her dead son inside her home.
Three days later, Elizabeth Ilic woke up with chest pains and died that morning of what many in the opal mining outpost 850 kilometers northwest of Adelaide believed was a broken heart.
Ms Ilic and her son Goran were buried 1,500 kilometers from where they lived in South Australia on Saturday afternoon, after a joint funeral at St Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Elaine, rural Victoria.
In Coober Pedy, locals are still trying to come to terms with the sudden loss of two much-loved members of their close-knit community in a matter of days and so close to Christmas.
Elizabeth Ilic died three days after the body of her 36-year-old son Goran was found at her home in Cooper Pedy, South Australia. Many locals in the opal mining town believe that Ms. Ilic (above) died of a broken heart
Goran Ilic had moved out of his mother’s underground house in Coober Pedy about six weeks before she found him dead in his rented house. He is photographed in October at a Halloween party organized by the city’s Greek Community Club.
Mr. Ilic’s cause of death has been described as “inconclusive” on a GoFundMe page set up in the wake of the tragic dual losses, while his mother apparently died of heart failure.
A local woman who knew the mother and son said that although authorities had given few details about their deaths, people close to Ms Ilic had made up their minds about what happened.
“People say he died of a broken heart,” the woman said. And she in a sense she did.
Ilic, a cleaner in her 60s, lived in an underground house built on a hill with her son until a couple of months ago when she moved into a rented house.
Goran Ilic’s cause of death has been described as “inconclusive” on a GoFundMe page set up in the wake of the tragic double losses, while his mother (above) apparently died of heart failure.
Mrs. Ilic lived in this underground house built into a hill on Russell Street with her son. Her ‘her bench’ eased the scorching heat in a city where temperatures average 36 degrees in the summer.
More than half of the city’s 1,800 inhabitants live on ‘banks’ to seek relief from the scorching desert heat, which reaches an average temperature of 36 degrees in summer.
Ms. Ilic worked at Oasis Tourist Park, where she was highly respected, and volunteered at the Church of Saint Elias the Prophet and its Serbian social club.
She adored Goran, 36, and was devastated after going out to visit him on Sunday, November 13, and finding his body.
Over the next few days, an inconsolable Ms. Ilic told friends she was so distraught she didn’t want to live anymore, according to a longtime Coober Pedy local.
Early in the morning of Wednesday, November 16, Ms. Ilic woke up with chest pains and not knowing who else to call, she called her ex-husband’s partner.
The woman ran to her aid and when she arrived, Ms. Ilic told her, “I don’t want to die,” according to the source.
The underground ‘banks’ at Coober Pedy are carved into the hillsides and provide respite from the extreme heat in the South Australian desert. Stock Image
Coober Pedy residents are still trying to come to terms with the loss of two beloved members in a matter of days and so close to Christmas.
Ms. Ilic was taken by ambulance to the city’s 24-bed hospital, where she died.
Two days later the Coober Pedy Regional Times paid tribute to Ms. Ilic and her son.
“Goran Ilic was popular with all age groups,” the newspaper said. “He had a natural charm and was polite and polite.”
“Friends have related that Ms. Ilic had a heart condition and they believe that grief over the death of her son caused a heart attack.”
A GoFundMe The appeal set to raise $20,000 to pay for the Ilic’s funeral, burial and headstones has so far raised $44,000.
The appeal, which describes Mr Ilic as “a beautiful soul taken too soon”, now includes a plea to Coober Pedy residents not to speculate on the cause of death of the mother or son.
“Elizabeth has been confirmed as having heart failure, while Goran’s cause of death is inconclusive,” reads one post. ‘As mentioned before, there is no indication of foul play.
“The family has been completely overwhelmed with questions about the cause of death.
‘Please respect the family and STOP asking questions about this. Unfortunately, there is no closure regarding Goran’s actual cause of death.
Petar Belosevic, who set up the GoFundMe page, said his dead friend was “a man of Serbian Orthodox Christian faith with a larger-than-life personality.”
Ms Ilic and her son Goran will be buried on Saturday afternoon 1,500 km from Coober Pedy after a joint funeral at the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of St Sava (above) in Elaine, rural Victoria.
“Everyone who interacted with Goran knew that he was different, that he could talk to anyone and captivate them with his charisma and personality,” Belosevic wrote.
It had been Mr. Ilic’s wish to be buried at St Sava Monastery, where he was baptized.
A service was held before Saturday’s funeral at the Free Serbian Orthodox Church on Thursday night in the Adelaide suburb of Hindmarsh.
Mr. Ilic is survived by his brother Zoran and his father Dragan.
Coober Pedy (above), 850 km northwest of Adelaide, calls itself the opal capital of the world. There were 1,762 registered residents in the city at the 2016 Census