THE MUMMY OF A SAILOR FOUND IN HIS ADRIFT BOAT

A terrible image: the mummified body of Manfred Fritz Bajorat, a German sailor, has been found in his adrift boat in the Pacific Ocean, near Barobo, Surigao del Sur, Philippines. Many international media report the news which, even if surreal, seems to be true: we’ll verify it next days but, for the moment, we’ll tell you it as it is.

The boat was seen by a group of fishermen about 60 miles far from the coast, with no mast and clearly adrift. When they went aboard to verify the situation, they saw the body of the man. So, they decided to tow the boat and warn the coast guard. Authorities identified the man thanks to some documents found on the boat. Manfred Fritz Bajorat was 59 and it is not clear when he died. The position of the body, fallen on the chart work table with the radio microphone near his hands, suggests that the sailor had a heart attack and he tried to make a last help call before dying ( the photo of the body, published below, is terrible).

English press reports that in 2009 none of his acquaintances saw Bajorat, who had divorced a year before. A sailor who knew him says that Bajorat was a good seaman and he wouldn’t never have risked a storm. So, it is probable that the mast broke after his death. Authorities are still trying to identify all the people who have seen him recently, while coroners are trying to establish the reasons and time of his death.

It seems absurd to think that the conservation conditions of the body, after who knows after how much time, can be so “good”. It seems absurd to think that the corpse didn’t fall. But sometimes reality goes beyond imagination.