The body of slain Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer will not leave the island today as planned because an inquest has been ordered into his death by the coroner for Kingston and St Andrew, Patrick Murphy.

The matter of Woolmer’s death was brought before the Coroner’s Court by Deputy Superintendent Mark Shields, who is heading the probe into the high-profile murder.

Murphy’s order means that Pakistan media manager Pervez Mir and team manager Talat Ali Malik will remain in the island until the inquest is completed.

Woolmer’s widow, Gill, was informed of the new twist to the saga which began with her husband’s murder on Sunday.

According to head of the Major Investigation Task Force, Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green, no date has yet been set for the inquest.

“We don’t know when it will begin at this point,” Green told the Observer yesterday.

But a release from the government’s public relations arm, the Jamaica Information Service, stated that the coroner gave an assurance that the inquest, which is to be held with a jury, would be conducted “as soon as practical”.

Coroner’s inquests are held in cases of sudden or unexplained deaths.

Two Pakistani government officials, who have been invited by the government to oversee the probe, will arrive in the island today, the release also said.

Yesterday, DNA samples were taken from the entire Pakistan delegation by forensics experts at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay where the Pakistanis are staying before their scheduled departure later this evening.

The police will be swabbing all the persons who occupied the 12th floor of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel at the time of Woolmer’s death. Included in the group of persons to be swabbed is West Indies captain Brian Lara, who occupied a room across the hall from the ill-fated room where the well-loved cricket coach and former allrounder was strangled.

“The DNA samples are being taken to engage in the process of elimination,” Green said.

Yesterday, members of the media tried unsuccessfully to enter the compound of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

A police source said while no member of the Pakistan delegation was a suspect, arrangements were being made with the police in Pakistan to return anyone who may be incriminated during the course of the investigation.

There is no extradition treaty between the governments of Pakistan and Jamaica.

Yesterday, reports surfaced that a Pakistan batsman was arrested, but Green quickly threw cold water on the allegation.

“It is another one of the erroneous claims that are being made,” Green said. “There have been a lot of rumours surrounding this case.”

The police also denied reports appearing in the foreign press that a man was arrested in connection with the case in Jamaica on Thursday night and that phone numbers of Pakistan and Indian team members were found in a cellular phone taken from the man.