Mummified German sailor had only been dead for a week

Editor's note: The post below contains graphic imagery.

The German sailor whose mummified body was found on a yacht off the Philippines had a heart attack and died about a week prior to being discovered, police spokesman Chief Superintendent Wilben Mayor says, the AFP reports.

Authorities conducted an autopsy on the body and released results on Wednesday.

"The German national is estimated to have been dead for more or less seven days... The cause of death is acute myocardial infarction based on the autopsy by regional crime laboratory," police say.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The sailor, identified as a 59-year-old Manfred Fritz Bajorat, was found on his yacht last Friday. His body, slumped over a desk, was not decomposing, but had been preserved, presumably by the dry and salty ocean air.

Reports of his death went viral because of the unusual way his body had been "mummified" and authorities conducted the autopsy to find out how long he had been dead before he was discovered. They also wanted to determine if foulplay was involved.

Bajorat was reportedly sailing around the world for the past 20 years, and is an experienced sailor. His yacht was discovered with a broken mast about 100 km off the coast of Barobo in the Philippines, but it's unclear if it broke before or after he passed away on the vessel.

After the discovery, the German embassy in Manila said it would try to reach out to his family, which reports say include a daughter working in a freight vessel, but so far there have been no updates on whether the embassy has been successful.

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