Initial results from the postmortems on two Irish teenagers who died hours apart on a Greek island were revealed last night.
The preliminary findings indicated Andrew O’Donnell died from a fall while Max Wall’s death was attributed to cardiac problems.
Max had a history of heart issues for which he had previously undergone surgery.
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However, the full toxicology and post mortem results for the Dublin classmates are not expected to be ready for at least a week.
A source, with knowledge of the procedure at the forensic science department in Piraeus, said: “Toxicological tests will take longer. Such analysis is key and will prove definitively the cause of death in both cases.”
The students died within 24 hours of each other last weekend.
Police have already ruled out foul play although separate inquiries are still underway on the Aegean island of Ios.
The 18-year-olds were found on Sunday.
Police discovered the body of Andrew first on a rocky track close to Hora, Ios’ main town.
Later they found Max who had collapsed, after learning of his friend’s fate, on a side street close to the island’s port.
He had been among a group of 10 friends who had spent Saturday night looking for O’Donnell after he went missing.
On Tuesday the Irish Mirror was told by Brigadier Thanos Loukas, who heads police operations in the south Aegean, that it was too early “to rule out anything”.
He said: “We have no reason to believe that any criminality is involved but at this stage… everything is being looked at, including [spiked drinks].”
The double tragedy marked the disastrous end of a holiday organised by St Michael’s College, the boys’ Dublin school, to celebrate students finishing secondary.
In popular resort islands such as Ios where cheap alcohol is readily available, spiked drinks known as “bombs” are nothing new.
In the past authorities have been forced to crack down on the age-old Greek practice of lacing alcohol with industrial spirit to make cocktails go further – with police staging raids on bars nationwide.
Andrew had been drinking with friends on Saturday when he left to walk to his rented accommodation alone.
Police believe he fell and hit his head before collapsing that night.
Yesterday hundreds of Irish students, led by the pair’s fellow pupils at St Michael’s, began leaving the island en masse with teachers describing them as “heartbroken and traumatised” by the death of their two friends.
