Headless body found in Philippines belongs to Chinese adventurer, officials suspect
- An ocean-going white rowing boat with red and blue stripes and marked ‘88’ – strikingly similar to the missing man’s – was also found nearby
- Military officials have tried to verify the identity of the man with officials in nearby towns and Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts
Philippine military officials said on Saturday the headless body of a man, and a boat, have been found in the south and authorities were verifying if he could be a Chinese adventurer who went missing while rowing across the Pacific Ocean last year.
Regional military commander Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana said the head of the man found in the southernmost province of Tawi Tawi may have been severed by strong waves as the body drifted in the high seas for a long time.
Ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants have taken hostages in the far-flung region in the past and decapitated some of them, but in the case of the remains found in Tawi Tawi, Sobejana said there was no sign of beheading.
Military officials said in a report that the body clad in a blue dive suit was found by a villager on the shores of Kinapusan island in Tawi Tawi’s South Ubian town on April 24 and notified marine personnel, who buried the remains in the area.
An ocean-going white rowing boat with red and blue stripes and marked “88” was found nearby, a regional security official, Colonel Arturo Rojas, said in the report.