The mummified body of a German sailor has been found by fishermen on a yacht floating off the Philippines. Police were investigating after two men made the discovery on Thursday. Officers determined from identity documents found on the boat that the dead man was Manfred Fritz Bajorat, aged 59. Inspector Mark Navales, deputy police chief of nearby Barabo town, said that while the cause of Bajorat’s death was unclear there were no signs of foul play. “It is still a mystery to us,” said Navales. Bajorat’s body was found seated at a desk in the radio room, slumped over on his right arm “like he was sleeping”, said Navales. His exact time of death had not yet been determined. The yacht was found in the Philippine Sea about 100km (60 miles) from Barabo. Bajorat had reportedly been sailing the world on his yacht, Sayo, for the past 20 years. Reports said he had not been sighted since 2009. But a friend told the media that he had heard from the mariner in 2015 via Facebook. Authorities were attempting to contact his friends and family in Germany in the hope they would be able to shed light on his movements. The police investigation found no obvious signs of violence but could not determine the cause of death. Navales said items inside the yacht were scattered and Bajorat’s wallet was not found but the yacht’s radio, GPS and other valuable items were still there. Dr Mark Benecke, a forensic criminologist in the German city of Cologne, told the Bild newspaper: “The way he is sitting seems to indicate that death was unexpected, perhaps from a heart attack.” Reports suggested that dry ocean winds, hot temperatures and the salty air helped preserve his body. http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...man-man-found-in-yacht-adrift-off-philippines
RIP sir. His wallet was not found ? Yeah right. Also I heard on the BBC that photos of his body en situ have been published... which I find disturbing, or rather... disgraceful.
The Philippine authorities place a rather different interpretation on the notion of a "crime scene" and indeed death itself is treated somewhat differently too, what with open coffins and so on. Sorry if that offends your sensibilities but that is the cold harsh reality of life in the Philippines. But surely you knew that?
Yes, I was quite aware of that thanks... but did not want to come across as a 'clever bugger'. I thought you said you'd put me on 'ignore'.... about an hour ago Either you still enjoy hanging on to my coat-tails, or you haven't mastered pressing buttons on forums yet.
I thought that about his wallet. Have they assumed he had one? Or did he have a pigeon hole labelled "here lies my wallet". Im being sceptical, maybe theyve already confirmed it and of course he'd need money regardless. Id be hiding it in the bilges in case of piracy.
What a shame. You would have thought he would have arranged radio contact with his family (if he had any) so the alarm would have been raised sooner. You have to wonder where the missing wallet went don't you..
I have seen the pictures; including those of the body. I am a yachtsman myself and have sailed in the Philippines. One thing that the body of the late Manfred Fritz Bajorat is NOT is "mummified" "Reports suggested that dry ocean winds, hot temperatures and the salty air helped preserve his body." - forsooth! There are NO "dry" ocean winds. That body is covered in green mould, which will grow on any organic textile or on leather (skin!) in a boat in the tropics, and is in the early stages of decomposition.
Since the Philippines Coastguard do not keep a watch on either VHF 16 or 2182, there is no point in trying to contact them. Satellite might be a possibility, but not to get help. DAMHIKT
One of the things that is of no use at all on a boat at sea, along with an umbrella, a wheelbarrow and a Naval Officer, is a wallet. Credit card stowed in a thief proof place is what to look for.
Oh I don't know ... an umbrella is the least useless of the items you mention as it could be used to collect fresh water falling as rain. But a wheelbarrow and a Naval Officer are completely and utterly useless, I agree.
Seems the chap had been dead for some time. The discovery this past weekend of the German-registered sailboat Sayo off the coast of the Philippines quickly became international news, not so much because of the boat but rather the mummified body of its skipper. It was theorized that dry ocean winds, hot temperatures, and the salty air helped preserve his body, but nonetheless the skipper, Manfred Fritz Bajorat, 59, had to have been dead for some time. Initial reports said no sightings of him had been mentioned since 2009. With all the ocean’s traffic, how could a 40-footer go unnoticed for that long? Apparently it didn’t. One of the teams in the 40,000 mile Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race, which was on the race leg from Australia to Vietnam, found the yacht and skipper a month earlier. Here was the Clipper Race report on January 31, 2016 as the fleet was to the east of the Philippines: LMAX Exchange had suspended racing this morning after discovering an abandoned yacht. The team, which was in third place at the time, was in contact with the US Coast Guard in Guam and the Race Director who communicated with Falmouth Coast Guard on the matter. No other Clipper Race yachts were involved. All Clipper Race crew are safe and well and the team has now resumed racing. With the yacht now discovered, the Clipper Race report on March 1, 2016 included this clarification: On January 31 during the leg from Australia to Vietnam, LMAX Exchange came across a dismasted boat south of Guam. At the time, the Clipper Race was unable to release any further details but it was in fact the German-registered yacht Sayo which was recently discovered off the coast of the Philippines with the sole occupant dead, probably for some considerable time. An LMAX Exchange crew member had boarded the yacht and reported the find which was relayed to the relevant authorities who instructed the team to continue racing while they took over the investigation and traced the next of kin. - See more at: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2...discovered-dead-skipper/#sthash.VKxyUsZ9.dpuf
I was interested by that so I did a rough calculation. Given the oceans cover about 70% of the earth with an area of about 362 million square kilometres and with a global merchant fleet of about 50,420 (http://www.statista.com/statistics/264024/number-of-merchant-ships-worldwide-by-type/) that would still mean only one ship for every 7179 square kilometres of sea. Now clearly, they aren't evenly distributed and clearly, there are more ships than that, but even if this figure was out by a factor of one hundred, with one ship for every 79 square kilometers of sea, it would still be hard to run into a small boat by chance. I feel this serves to illustrate that the ocean is a big place and its hard to run into another ship by chance specially if it's off course and outside of an accepted route. I had to laugh at the wheelbarrow.
My own experience has been that in a small yacht at sea one very seldom sights a merchant ship - effectively, the sea horizon is at about three miles from the cockpit so that is seven square miles of sea; one does see ships "hull down" at a greater distances, but they won't see the yacht - and this boat was dismasted. Also, merchant ships will keep to the "shipping lanes" - the most economic routes between major ports, be these Great Circle tracks over the oceans or rhumb lines over short distances. So you may see almost a procession of ships following one track and then nothing for hundreds of miles. Sailing yachts will usually follow the old sailing ship routes which are quite different as we will trade hundreds of miles of distance for a fair wind which will get us there sooner,
