DAVAO CITY , Philippines, March 1 (UPI) — Police in the Philippines believe a yacht with the mummified body of a German man may have been adrift for months before it was found in the Pacific Ocean.
Manfred Bajorat, 59, was an experienced sailor who embarked in October on a voyage from Martinique, in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly 12,500 miles from where his ship was discovered by fishermen Thursday near the Philippine island of Mindanao.
They boarded the half-submerged craft and found Bajorat’s mummified body, seated at a desk with his head on his arm as though resting, his remains preserved by the salt and sea air. Although he carried no wallet, there were no signs of a robbery.
Documents aboard the ship identified Bajorat, who was from Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state.
“There is no evidence of a second person having been on board,” a Barabo district, Philippines, police spokeswoman said. “No weapons were found either.”
Police believe Bajorat may have had a heart attack and died while at the desk, and the ship drifted across the ocean.
