The heartbroken family of a grandfather swept away in outback floods has launched a desperate bid to help get his body home.

Tony Aspden, 65, was last seen on Easter Saturday in Innamincka, near South Australia’s Queensland border, walking to a flooded and closed road.

He was later reported missing and his body was found on the following Monday. But it was sent to Adelaide, where it remains.

Now Aspden’s family faces the daunting prospect of covering the $5000 cost of bringing his body back to Queensland so he can be buried alongside other relatives.

Daughter Rebecca said Aspden had always been “full of life” and had worked on a station in the region as a cook.

“He lived for this, he loved little country areas and he just loved this kind of life” she said.

“[He] always went out to like stations to work as a cook, so this was not his first rodeo. This job was going to be eight months. He’d been there though for 10 days.”

Rebecca said her dad had checked in by text on the day he went missing.

“He sent us a message on the Saturday morning, as he did every morning to our family chat, saying he loved us all, and to stay safe and be happy – those were his words every day,” she said.

“He was full of life and was so excited to be working away.”

Aspden said the days-long search for her father had taken a toll on the family – and it was important to bring his body back home.

She said when her father was first reported missing, she travelled the 17 hours to Innamincka to help with the search.

“They found him within two hours of me being there, in a spot that they’d looked five times, but all of a sudden he was actually in that spot,” she said.

“It’s just made me be grateful that we did find him because it’s a massive river that runs into the ocean and a lot of people aren’t found. So at least we could bring him home.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family cover funeral costs, as well as the expense of transporting Aspden’s body back to Brisbane. It has so far raised nearly $2000.

Republished from InDaily