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Pakistan cricket coach likely died of heart disease

Heart disease likely killed Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, authorities said, while an opposition leader in Jamaica's parliament called for the firing of the pathologist who set off a global murder investigation by concluding he had been strangled.

Karl Angell, a spokesman for the Jamaican Constabulary Force, said on Wednesday that police are "99 percent sure" Woolmer died from heart failure but said it will be up to the coroner to issue the official cause of death.

South African pathologist Lorna Martin, who conducted one of three independent autopsies on Woolmer, also said 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 is head of forensic medicine and toxicology at the University of Cape Town, said in a telephone 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 on Tuesday 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.

Opposition lawmaker Derrick Smith called for Seshaiah to be fired.

"He led the investigation team down a wrong path," Smith said outside parliament. "Now that we have found out that he has made an error, he should be terminated."

Seshaiah reportedly said he still believed Woolmer was strangled in his hotel room.

"I am sticking to my findings. He was murdered," Seshaiah told the Jamaica Observer.

Seshaiah, who has not responded to requests for comment from the AP, told the Observer he was confident the coach was slain.

Security Minister Peter Phillips ordered a review of the probe into Woolmer's death to assess "standards of professionalism" shown by all medical and police investigators.
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