Autopsy results of the two couples who died when their rental car plunged into the sea while on holiday in Croatia will be published on Monday.
Croatian sources told Times of Malta the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Rijeka, which is carrying out the autopsies, will have details of the results on Monday.
Jeremy Gambin, 68, and his wife Lorraine, 67, died alongside Kevin Bonnici, 67, and his wife Alexandra, 66. They were travelling together on the scenic Adriatic Coast when the car they were in veered off the road and into the sea on Thursday afternoon. The four were good friends and all lived in Swieqi.
Autopsy results could help shed light on the dynamics of the crash, with Croatian media having reported that the initial suspicion is that the person driving the vehicle may have become ill while driving, leading to the crash.
Jeremy Gambin was a basketball coach at Luxol and a former player who represented Malta at the 1987 Games of Small States of Europe in Monaco. He was also a PE Teacher at St Michael’s Foundation.
He and his wife Lorraine, whose official name is Cynthia, had three children and several grandchildren.
Kevin Bonnici worked in the cab business and served as a company director of two separate Y-Plate fleet firms. He previously worked for Air Malta in the airline’s finance, flight ops and engineering departments. He and his wife Alexandra had two children and various grandchildren.
Sources told Times of Malta that some family members were travelling to Croatia on Saturday, and forensics will continue with the autopsy.
The accident happened at 4.20pm on Thursday, on the D8 state road near Bunica, just south of Senj.
Police said the vehicle, travelling from Rijeka towards Senj, is believed to have lost control on a left-hand bend, veered right, struck two stone barriers and fell around 70 metres down a ravine before ending up in the water.
Police officer Jasmin Mujaković from the Senj Police Station was among the first to arrive at the scene of the horrific accident, 24sata reported.
He surfaced several times for air and then went down under the surface again, trying to find a way to reach the victims.
A Croatian diver with over 30 years of experience has described Thursday’s fatal car accident that killed four Maltese tourists as the most difficult intervention of his career.
Renato Huba said that while he had similar interventions before, he described the accident as “one of the most difficult”, he told Croatian newsroom.
“I prepared myself for the worst situation, but that was not enough; this was much worse,” Huba said.