THE family of Robert Maxwell were last night hoping finally to fly his

body out of the Canary Islands after a day of delays and frustration.

His widow, Betty, had been hoping to take the oak coffin on the

family's private jet for the funeral in Israel.

But the Gulfstream jet does not have a hold, and officials feared

there could be problems manoeuvring the coffin -- 6ft 6in long, 3ft wide

and weighing more than 31 stone -- through the side door.

Last night, after two trial runs with another coffin, they decided it

would not fit and a bigger aircraft was chartered from Zurich.

Mrs Maxwell, her son Philip, and daughter Ghislaine, who spent a

frustrating day aboard the late publisher's yacht, were expected to fly

into Gran Canaria from the neighbouring island of Tenerife and go to the

undertakers to be reunited with the body, which was due to be flown to

Israel late last night.

The preliminary findings of the post mortem examination found Mr

Maxwell died of natural causes before he fell overboard from his luxury

yacht on Tuesday.

Mr Keith Hazell, the British Consul in Tenerife, spoke to Mrs Maxwell

yesterday morning and reported that the family was satisfied it was ''a

mixture of accident and natural causes''.

The 68-year-old publisher was already being treated for acute

pulmonary oedema, which could have caused feelings of asphyxia that

might have prompted him to go on deck in the early hours.

He was last seen at 4.25am at his favourite spot on deck. Twenty

minutes later Mr Maxwell made a telephone call to the bridge and that

was the last that was heard of him.

The full post mortem examination report is expected in about a week.