The German sailor whose mummified body was found on a damaged yacht last weekend, is thought to have died much more recently than first presumed.
Adventurer Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, went missing in 2009, but his body was discovered by two fishermen drifting silently off the coast of the Philippines over the weekend.
Originally, it was thought that the German national had died several years ago due to the state of his corpse, however, it has now been revealed that police believe he has only been dead for seven days, according to the Daily Mail.
Yesterday, police confirmed that Mr Bajorat suffered a heart attack just a week prior to being discovered.
National police spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor said:
The cause of death is acute myocardial infarction based on the autopsy.
The German national is estimated to have been dead for more or less seven days.
His corpse was found propped up against his radio telephone, as if Mr Bajorat was desperately trying to make a final mayday call from his 40ft luxury yacht.
Barobo police reported that fishermen spotted the vessel floating with a destroyed sail in the Pacific Ocean last Friday, before manning the yacht and finding Mr Bajorat’s body.
World sailor and friend of Mr Bajorat, Dieter, told German newspaper BILD:
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.
It has been reported that his daughter, based in Germany, is to fly out to the Philippines to identify the body.
