Further examinations needed to determine cause of death
Looking at the doorway to the La maison bleue room where Frank Vandenbroucke was found dead on Monday. (Image credit: AFP Photo)
Frank Vandenbroucke's body will be returned to Belgium soon, possibly today or this weekend. After no traces of alcohol were found in an initial autopsy, Belgians will conduct further toxicological studies.
The former Belgian professional cyclist died in a hotel room in Saly, Senegal, Monday.
Senegalese authorities released the body on Thursday, according to Sporza. "If the family wants to repatriate the body, someone from a Belgian funeral parlor should contact his colleague in Senegal. Then, the body can be flown to our country this weekend," said Bart Ouvry, spokesman of the Belgian Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The Senegalese doctor who performed the autopsy this week, Isidor Boye, said he found "lesions which could explain his death," according to Belgian media. Boye refused to give any more details, but he said that he did not find any traces of violence.
Seynabou Diop, the young prostitute who was with Vandenbroucke the night he died, is under investigation only for theft and sale of stolen goods, but not for murder or homicide. She admitted steeling a mobile telephone and some money from Vandenbroucke when she left the hotel room in the early hours on Monday morning, but insisted that Vandenbroucke was still alive at the time.
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