KINGSTON, Jun 14 (AP): Heart disease likely killed Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, authorities said Wednesday, while an opposition leader in Jamaica's parliament called for firing the pathologist who set off a global murder investigation by concluding he had been strangled.
Karl Angell, a spokesman for the Jamaican Constabulary Force, told The AP that the police were "99 per cent sure".
Woolmer died from heart failure but said it would be up to the coroner to issue the official cause of death.
South African pathologist Lorna J Martin, who conducted one of three independent autopsies on Woolmer, also told the news agency that Woolmer's death was most likely related to heart problems.
"Taking into account his medical history and the findings of the autopsy, it looks very certainly like it's a cardiac cause of death," Martin, who was head of forensic medicine and toxicology at the University of Cape Town, said in a phone interview.
Jamaican pathologist Ere Seshaiah had previously concluded Woolmer had been strangled in his hotel room in March after his team was ousted from the Cricket World Cup in a surprise loss to Ireland.
The announcement shocked the cricket world and triggered a high-profile homicide investigation. But Tuesday the Jamaican police said three independent pathologists from Britain, South Africa and Canada determined Woolmer died of natural causes, and closed the murder probe.
They did not disclose the exact cause of death, pending the release of a coroner's report.
Heart disease likely killed Woolmer: Jamaican police
FE Team | Published: June 15, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like