MANILA, Philippines: Philippine police said Tuesday that they were trying to determine the identity and cause of death of a man found dead while sitting slumped in a yacht that was drifting in the Pacific Ocean and which was apparently owned by a German adventurer.
Police Chief Inspector Dominador Plaza said the gray decomposing remains of the man resembled a mummy, adding mystery to his death. His body was discovered near the radio in the cabin of a white yacht found last week by Filipino fishermen off the southeastern province of Surigao del Sur.
There were no visible signs of foul play, like a gunshot or stabbing wound, Plaza said.
“Initially, it looks to us that he died of natural causes, maybe a heart attack,” he said by phone. “And death appears to have come suddenly because he was still sitting by the table when he passed away.”
Plaza said initial estimates show the man had been dead in the hot enclosed cabin for at least several days, but that authorities were awaiting an autopsy report due this week for a more accurate finding.
The 12-meter-long sailboat’s mast was broken, maybe in a storm, police said.
Documents found in the yacht showed that it was apparently owned by a German adventurer identified as Manfred Fritz Bajorat, Plaza said, adding that investigators still have to determine whether he was the dead man.
Mayor Felixberto Urbiztondo of Surigao del Sur’s coastal town of Barobo, where fishermen towed the damaged yacht and the body was brought, said a daughter of Bajorat called to say her family was planning to travel to the Philippines to help investigators confirm whether the man was her father.
If the man was Bajorat, Urbiztondo said the man’s family plans to have him cremated before bringing him back home.
The German Embassy in Manila refused to comment and referred questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin.
Mummy-looking dead man found in yacht off Philippines
Mummy-looking dead man found in yacht off Philippines
Spain expects tourist arrivals to keep growing in 2026
- “If growth continues this year, we will reach 100 million foreign tourists,” Hereu said
- Spain is the world’s second most visited country after France
MADRID: Spain expects to host more foreign visitors, and for them to spend more in total, in 2026 after the country welcomed a record 97 million tourists last year, Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu told reporters on Thursday.
“If growth continues this year, we will reach 100 million foreign tourists, but we aren’t focused on that,” Hereu said, adding that last year’s figure represented a 3.5 percent increase on 2024, while revenues from tourism rose 6.8 percent to 135 billion euros ($157 billion).
Spain is the world’s second most visited country after France, and tourism is a major source of revenue for the economy, which has by far outgrown its European peers in the past two years.
According to tourism industry lobby Exceltur, the sector accounted for an estimated 13 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product in 2025.
Hereu said in the first four months of this year — including the busy Easter holiday season — authorities were forecasting a 3.7 percent rise in visitors from abroad to 26 million people, who they expect will spend 35 billion euros, up 2.5 percent from the same period last year. The Mediterranean country’s tourism boom, while boosting its economy, has led to tension in many visitor hotspots due to the indirect effect on housing prices, congestion and natural resource degradation problems. Some popular destinations like Ibiza have cracked down on short-term rentals.
Hereu said Spain’s model was moving away from seasonality, as data showed that tourist spending had grown by 53 percent in the low and mid-seasons compared with pre-pandemic year 2019, and by 34 percent in the high season. Two-thirds of tourists who visited Spain in 2025 intend to return as they see it as a safe place, the minister said, adding that there was no sign of global geopolitical issues affecting flight availability or booking trends.
