Crowdfunding appeal launched to repatriate Italian tourist killed in Australia

Friends of an Italian tourist killed in a car accident in Western Australia have appealed to the generosity of strangers to help cover the costs of bringing her body home.

Martina Riccioni, 22, was visiting the Margaret River region, three hours south of Perth, when the car she was a passenger in was involved in a head-on collision on April 6.

Riccioni was thrown from the car and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Antoinettia Caffero, 21, who was in the car with Riccioni when the crash occurred, is still in a critical but stable condition in a Western Australian hospital.

Her boyfriend's father, Carlo Andretta, has turned to crowdfunding to ensure that Riccioni's family is able to say a final farewell.

Riccioni's family admitted the tragedy was considered more heartbreaking because of the cost of bringing her body home, one which her family was unable to afford on their own.

Using the website "gofundme", Andretta appealed to the public to help raise the 15,000 U.S. dollars needed to repatriate the body.

He said it was important that the body be shipped back to Italy, so that family can have closure, and "give her the proper send-off she deserves."

"Our prayers go to the family in Italy," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Friday.

"Any person that loses somebody has to have closure, her family they've got to see Martina, they've got to say good-bye, and they' ve got to have her funeral."

He said helping Riccioni's family back in Italy was the only logical thing to do after such a loss.

"We feel like it's our duty to help out where we can, not only as Italians also just as human beings," he said.

The appeal has raised more than 18,000 Australian dollars (14, 000 U.S dollars) since being launched earlier this week.

Donations have come from across Australia, Italy and the world, often with messages of condolence attached. Endi