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Family dynamics

01st May 2017

Man believed to be the oldest human ever to have lived dies aged 146

Conor Heneghan

It is claimed that the man, known as Sodimedjo, was born in 1870.

An Indonesian man who claimed to be the oldest human being ever to have lived has died at the age of 146 in Central Java in Indonesia.

According to the BBC, Sodimedjo, also known as Mbah Ghoto (grandpa Ghoto), passed away at the age of 146 at the weekend, although there are doubts about his age given that Indonesia only started recording births in the year 1900 and mistakes have occurred before.

Officials in Indonesia told the BBC, however, that, based on documents provided by Sodimedjo and interviews given by him, he was in fact born in December 1870, which would make him the oldest human being ever to have lived.

Sodimedjo’s grandson, Suryanto told the BBC that Sodimedjo was buried on Monday morning in a local cemetery plot he had bought a number of years ago.

Clip via ODN

Due to his deteriorating health, he had been taken to hospital on April 12 but checked himself out six days later and had been refusing to eat and drink for several days before his death.

Sodimedjo outlived four wives, his ten siblings and all of his three children and lived to 146 despite being a heavy smoker for most of his life.

Sodimedjo’s age has yet to be independently verified, but if it is proven that he did live until he was 146, he will succeed French woman Jeanne Louise Calment as the oldest human being in history.

Calment died at the age of 122 years and 164 days in August 1997.

Emma Morano, who had been officially the world’s oldest living person, died at the age of 117 last month.

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