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A GERMAN MAN whose mummified body was found on a yacht adrift off the southern Philippines had died of a heart attack about a week earlier, according to an autopsy report.
Police earlier named the victim based on documents found on the yacht on Friday as Manfred Fritz Bajorat of Germany, but they have yet to establish where he had sailed from or where he was heading.
“The cause of death is acute myocardial infarction based on the autopsy by (the) regional crime laboratory,” Philippines national police spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor told AFP.
“The German national is estimated to have been dead for more or less seven days,” he added, citing a police statement by police in the southern Philippines.
Local fishermen found the white-hulled, 13-metre yacht with a broken mast adrift on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean on Friday, with the dried-up corpse of the naked man hunched over a table in the main cabin.
Police launched an inquiry to determine whether he had been the victim of a crime, but the autopsy result indicated otherwise.
The area where the boat was found is some 100 kilometres off the town of Barobo, the town’s deputy police chief Inspector Mark Navales told AFP.
“The… saltwater in the air could have mummified his body,” Navales added.
Documents, old pictures of a family visiting Paris landmarks, rice and tinned food lay scattered on the cabin of the boat, which had taken in water and was listing to one side, he said.
One document photographed by police indicated the boat had obtained clearance from maritime police in Sao Vicente in 2013, although it was unclear if it was issued in Cape Verde or Brazil, which have ports of the same name.
Police were still investigating the yacht’s travel plan, Chief Superintendent Mayor said.
The German embassy in Manila referred queries on the case to the German foreign ministry.
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Can a body be mummified in a week, considering the humidity in that part of the world?
I saw the guy Dave.
The body was well preserved considering the length of time that he had been dead.
At first it was thought that it was murder when a local fisherman brought him ashore.
Poor guy.
Apparently he was a very experienced sailor.
Interesting article here (graphic warning):
His last comunication was a year ago and the condition of the interior of the yacht would seem to indicate a much longer timeframe than one week. I’m no expert but I wouldn’t have thought one week would be enough to mumify a body like this.
He was mummified by the ocean winds, warm temperatures and salt air according to the Examiner.
I saw the pictures aswell. Noway all that mildew grew in 7 days. Saw a reprt the boat was seen adrift in early Jan
According to the Independent article linked above..
“has been discovered on his yacht drifting off the coast of the Phillipines seven years after the last reported sighting and a year after the last message received from him”
Don’t know where the 7 days idea came from…He’s been dead a while!
Great way to go.
So a body can be mummified by sea air in the space of a week? I belive this to be a shoddy article.
Can’t really call it a shoddy article if they’re reporting what the coroner has said.
@craig
pretty sure the coroner just said he died of a heart attack, not how long ago it happened.
“The German national is estimated to have been dead for more or less seven days,” he added, citing a police statement by police in the southern Philippines.”
No it literally says it there in your quote. The “dead more or less seven days, citing a police statement” part.
“acute myocardial infarction” – a heart attack if you’re a working class schmuck!
Oh no, that feels like a heart attack, I’d better strip naked. You can always trust the Filipino police when it comes to foreigners.
I dunno, if you’re isolated on a boat in the Pacific ocean there’s probably not much point in being dressed all the time.
If I was on my own yacht cruising around the Philippines you can be damn sure I’d be naked too.
he was German , Germans on yachts are usually Naked , and it doesnt matter that he was German, most single handed sailors sail naked when the weather is good …
He is covered with salt from sea spray from waves washing over the boat.
That can happen in days in the blistering tropical heat.
Salt water evaporates in minutes in the tropics, leaving a salt crust on everything.
He is encrusted in salt.
Mind you.
We humans preserve fish by salting them.
The sea strikes back at humans.
P.S.
The fact that seabirds had not already picked him clean into a skeleton means that he was dead for only a week or two at most.
I wonder how much cash he had on board. None? What a surprise
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