Body of homeless man several hours in departures at Palma Airport
Saturday, August 2nd, 2014
 
Thousands of passengers who took their early morning flights on Thursday ignored the presence of a lifeless body. René Becker  an estimated 61 year old German who made his ‘residence’ at Palma Airport, sadly passed away.
The body of the homeless German was lying for several hours on a bench in the departures lounge at Palma Airport Thursday. Â None of the thousands of passengers who were preparing to take their flights noticed the listless body which was only a few meters away.
René Becker, known amicably as ‘Beardy’ by staff at the Palmesano airport, died in what had been his ‘home’ for the past several years amid complete indifference from passengers.
 
 Photos from Bild in an article 3 years earlier 2011 while Rene was well.
His sleep appeared to be deeper than normal and at about five in the morning airport staff realized that René, ‘Beardy’, wasn’t responding.   Then they also recognized that he had no pulse and his body was already cold.
National Police officers took over in the early hours and a coroner traveled to Palma Son Sant Joan airport to examine the body. The coroner declared that the destitute German had been dead for several hours. That meant that the corpse had laid in the departure terminal of Palma airport for quite some time.
Once the coroner certified his death, the body of René Becker was moved by undertakers to the Anatomical Forensic Institute Palma. When the autopsy is carried out it is expected to state that the death was due to natural causes.
The news of his death caused great commotion in the airport complex. Â He was especially loved among the poor who have fixed their residence in the departure terminal.
Ignored
Thousands of passengers that were leaving Mallorca passed the very place where René Becker was lying. Travelers from six flights destined for Palermo Sicily, Gothenburg Sweden, Nador Morocco, Eivissa Ibiza, East Midlands and Doncaster UK, could have coincided with the body of ‘Beardy’ lying on the bench perhaps even sitting next to him.
The same happened for passengers who took their flights late on Wednesday night bound for European cities such as London, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Manchester, Liverpool, Cologne, Nuremberg, Nantes and Belfast.  For those travelers the death of René Becker went completely unnoticed.
During the years that René Becker voluntarily decided to fix his ‘residence’ in Palma airport he had become a beloved person for the vast majority of workers.  His bushy white beard, together with the eternal cap he wore, had earned ​​him the affectionate nickname of “Beardy’.
When alive tourists wanted to take a picture with him while others offered him food. His affable nature roused sympathy everywhere and he often gave a tip that was good-natured.  None suspected that they had encountered a former German engineer who had favored to leave conventional life behind and settle in Palma’s airport.
Apparently three years ago, his daughter Patricia, who was then 24, traveled from Germany and was reunited with her father.  Her intention was to bring him back to their country.  Although René didn’t hide the joy of their reunion, he rejected the offer and continued at Palma Airport until the end of his days.
