The Irish teenager who died after being assaulted while on holiday in Lanzarote may not have been killed directly by the blows received from his attackers, according to the island's pathologist.
Civil Guard sources on the island have indicated that preliminary findings of the postmortem carried out on Thursday on Derek Cumiskey, the 18-year-old Dubliner who collapsed and died in the resort of Puerto del Carmen in the early hours of Wednesday, point to a different cause of death than that originally reported.
The pathologist who examined Mr Cumiskey's body has informed police investigating the incident that the blows inflicted by the as yet unidentified attackers left bruising to his face and legs but were in themselves insufficient to cause his death and a more likely cause was cardio-respiratory failure, possibly triggered by a pre-existing heart condition.
Significant quantities of alcohol were found in the youth's blood but are not thought to be related to the cause of death.
The deceased's organs are being transferred to the Canary Islands' main forensic institute in La Laguna (Tenerife) for further tests to establish the exact cause of death and the results may take several days to emerge.
Meanwhile, the Cumiskey family, assisted by a representative of the Irish Consulate, continue with their efforts in Puerto del Carmen to find out exactly what happened to their son, the youngest of five children, who was accompanied on the holiday to Lanzarote by his sister Joanne and some friends.
Two other family members flew out to the island early yesterday.
The local media in Lanzarote report that two other young men, also Irish, who were with Derek at the time of the incident, have told police that they were set upon by four men not far from their accommodation on the main strip of the popular resort and Derek was struck several times with an iron bar during the altercation.
No arrests have been made in connection with the death.
Tributes were paid to Derek yesterday by relatives and friends in Ireland. Phil Gray, the principal of St Augustine's School, Blackrock, Co Dublin, where the teenager had just completed his Junior Certificate, described him as a "very gentle person" who would have moved away from trouble.
He was the school's student of the year and that alone said so much about him, Ms Gray told RTÉ radio news.
She said that he was "so considerate of others" and staff always found him to be very gentle, very caring and very responsible and they had noted how much he had matured in the past year.
A special needs student, it was the teenager's second trip out of Ireland. He had previously visited Disneyland.
The school principal expressed her shock and the concern of staff at the initial media reports of the circumstances of his death.
"He was a very gentle person" who had earned the respect of all his peers and staff.
"He would have moved away from trouble. He would never have been anyway involved with it and he would always be looking to see how he could be helping people."
In the last few weeks he had been talking about his holiday to the Canaries and "was so excited about it".
Mr Cumiskey, the youngest of five children, three girls and two boys, had travelled with one of his sisters and friends to the Puerto del Carmen resort in Lanzarote.
Two other sisters have since flown to the island.
His father John Cumiskey said the family was absolutely devastated at his son's death. Mr Cumiskey said they knew very little about what had happened, only that five men were involved.
Mr Cumiskey said his son loved soccer and followed Manchester United. "That was his pride and joy."