Cook on cargo ship died of heart disease, coroner finds

A preliminary coroner's report on Monday said that the death of the cook on a quarantined cargo ship was due to heart problems and not a contagious disease.

The Antigua-flagged Blue Note alerted Greek authorities that its 40-year-Russian cook had died of unknown causes while en route from Italy to Greece, raising concerns that he may have been infected with a contagious disease.

The cargo ship was placed under quarantine in the Gulf of Corinth and examined by experts from Greece's Center for Disease Prevention and Control, who gave the other crewmen a clean bill of health.

A state coroner is still expected to sign off on the preliminary postmortem examination, which ruled that the 40-year-old died of heart disease, the ANA-MPA news agency reported.