He died today in his village, in the province of Central Java, in Indonesia, the oldest man in the world. Saparman Sodimedjo, this is his name, claimed to be 146 years old. According to his documents, Sodimedjo, also known as Mbah Ghoto, was born on December 31, 1870, but Indonesia began to register births in 1900 and it cannot be excluded that there were errors before this date. Although, according to the local authorities’ declaration to the BBC, his identity card, posted on the Indonesian news site Libutan, is considered valid.

Saparman had been taken to hospital on 12 April due to a worsening of his health. Six days later he had insisted on going out and going home. “Since he had returned from the hospital, he had only eaten a few tablespoons of porridge and drank very little,” said his nephew Suyanto to the BBC, explaining that “before he died, he wanted us, his family, to let him go”.

Interviewed last year by the BBC, Mbah Ghoto declared that patience was the key to his longevity. A great smoker until the end, he survived four wives, 10 brothers and all his children. He was buried in a local cemetery, in a tomb purchased several years ago and on which the stone on which he used to sit outside his house was placed.

If it were independently verified, his age would make Grandpa Ghoto the oldest in the world before the French Jeanne Calment, who was 122 years old when he died and was considered the longest in recorded history.

On April 15th Emma Morano died at her home in Verbania at the age of 117 and 137 days . She was the oldest registered living person in the world and the fifth in the ranking of all time. Currently the longest living person is a Jamaican woman who is 117 years old and 48 days old: Violet Brown, born March 10, 1900.