A 118-year-old man with no living relatives and who can no longer talk properly is the oldest living man in the world after officials in Brazil confirmed his date of birth was 15th February 1908.
The documents make Luiz Carlos dos Santos, known as “Seu Luizinho”, the world’s oldest living man who was six years old when WWI broke out.
Despite his apparent lack of living relatives and the fact he cannot speak in full sentences, staff at the Lar Sao Vicente de Paulo care home in Eloi Mendes, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil, say he seems happy and spends his day balancing objects on the furniture in his room and making patterns with stones in the garden.
He has lived at the retirement home for 55 years.
RankBrasil, a Brazilian records verification organisation similar to Guinness, said his age was confirmed through an updated birth certificate, employment documents and medical reports held by the institution, all stating he was born on 15th February 1908.
The confirmation process that will now be submitted to Guinness included searches of the civil registry’s oldest books to authenticate the original handwritten records.
Seu Luizinho moved into the Lar Sao Vicente de Paulo in 1971 after working for years as a farm labourer in the region.
According to the care home’s management, he does not take regular medication and uses only daily vitamins.
Staff said there are no records of him suffering any serious illness, including during the Covid-19 pandemic, but he receives no visitors and apparently has no living relatives.
The institution’s administrative manager, Maria Caroline de Souza Vitoriano, said he communicates mainly through short responses and head movements, and no longer forms full sentences. She added that he does not appear to understand that he is 118 years old.
RankBrasil said the age was confirmed after a detailed verification process that began after a social media post drew attention to his age, prompting the organisation to request official documentation from the care home.
Guinness World Records currently lists a 116-year-old British woman as the oldest living person in the world and recognises a 113-year-old Brazilian man from Ceara state as the oldest living man globally.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below. Story By: Aloysius Fernandes, Sub-Editor: Simona Kitanovska, Agency: Newsflash
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