The cause of death of a 17-year-old boy who fell unconscious in a schoolyard in Paphos and later died will be determined after the results of laboratory tests are received, Paphos police’s assistant operations director Michalis Nikolaou said on Tuesday.

He confirmed that an autopsy on the boy’s body had been carried out by forensic pathologists Angeliki Papetta and Orthodoxos Orthodoxou, but said that laboratory tests will be required for the cause of death to be made clear.

Meanwhile, the school’s headmaster Theodoros Elia told the Cyprus News Agency that his efforts are “focused on supporting his family as much as possible”.

He added that he “did not come across any incident of delinquency” during the boy’s time at the school and offered his condolences to the boy’s loved ones.

The boy died on Sunday evening, with Nikolaou saying on Monday that the boy had, according to witness testimony, “allegedly inhaled gas from a can or spray … in the presence of his peers”.

The boy reportedly fainted in front of his friends, with an ambulance arriving on the scene at around 7pm to take him to hospital.

However, Nikolaou said, “despite doctors’ efforts to revive him, this was not possible”.

Later on Monday morning, police announced that they had arrested four people, all aged 17, in connection with the boy’s death.

They also said they had found vials used to fill cigarette lighters on the school’s roof, adding weight to the theory that the boy had inhaled some form of gas before falling unconscious.

The police are now investigating whether the boy inhaled the substance or substances of his own volition, or whether any or all of the four arrested are responsible.

The four were charged in writing and released, with the case file to be forwarded to the legal service once investigations into the matter have been completed.

The legal service will then decide whether cases will be brought against any of them.

Inhaling gases, solvents and aerosols is a method of getting high, though, as the United Kingdom’s national drug advisory service Talk to Frank writes, “it is difficult to control the dose, and all methods are potentially fatal”.