According to a Philippine police report, on March 2016 a mummified sailor has been found floating aboard a ghost yacht which could have drifted for years in the Pacific Ocean. The naturally mummified body was found by two fishermen who spotted a battered vessel in the Philippine Sea about 60 miles from Barabo. Later, the mummy identified as German adventurer Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59.
At that time, a white yacht called Sayo, floating with a broken sail prompted the 2 fishermen to enter the boat to verify further. As they got into the yacht, the fishermen made a gruesome discovery. Still stitting at a desk, slumped over on his right arm, was the mummified body of a man. A transmitter handset was just inches away, as if he had tried to make a desperate emergency call.
The fishermen decided to tow the 40-foot yacht to shore, where police officers began their investigation.
Photographs on board the yacht helped the police identify the corpse as that of Manfred Fritz Bajorat, an experienced mariner who had been sailing for the past 20 years.
Certificates found on the vessel revealed Bajorat and his wife Claudia crossed the equator aboard another ship, the Hyundai Renaissance in 2008. In that year, however, the couple split. Bajorat continued his round-the-world sail alone; Claudia died from cancer in 2010.
The mummy is estimated to be between one year and seven years old. It's yet unknown how long the dead mariner had been sailing on his yacht: sightings of him have not been reported since 2009.
It was not known at the time how he died, but police confirmed that an autopsy had revealed he suffered a heart attack about seven days prior to his body being discovered.
A yachtsman told the German magazine Bild that he met Bajorat in Mallorca in 2009.
"He was a very experienced sailor. I don't believe he would have sailed into a storm. I believe the mast broke after Manfred was already dead," he told Bild.
Forensic examiners said natural mummification occurred because dry ocean winds, hot temperatures and salty air helped preserve the body. Post-mortem examination found no evidence of foul play, so it is believed Bajorat had died of natural causes.
While Bajorat has been named through items on the yacht, investigators may yet restore his facial features and obtain fingerprints to confirm his identity. German officials are trying to trace any relatives in the hope they can help reconstruct the circumstances and time of death.
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