‘World’s oldest man’ dies aged 116 in South Africa

Fredie Blom from South Africa believed to the world’s oldest man, died at the age of 116 of natural causes on Saturday in Cape Town, his family said.

Blom’s identity documents showed that he was born in Eastern Cape province in May 1904.

However, Blom was never verified by Guinness World Records as the oldest man of the world.

His entire family was wiped out by the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and Blom went on to survive two world wars and apartheid.

In an interview with the BBC in 2018, Blom said that there was no special secret to his longevity.

He spent most of his life as a labourer – first on a farm and then in the construction industry.

He retired when he was in his 80s.