Kamato Hongo, officially the oldest living woman in the world, was born on September 16, 1887.

PHOTO - REUTERS

HANOI – A few days after the Japanese record holder celebrated her 115th birthday, Vietnam may have turned up its own candidate for the title of world‘s oldest person. Like Kamato Hongo, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living woman, Vu Thi Dao in northern Vietnam was born in 1887. But while Hongo celebrated her 115th birthday on September 16, only Dao‘s year of birth is recorded in Vietnamese identification documents.

Dao‘s potential status as the oldest person came to light in local media. The Phu Nu (Women) newspaper splashed pictures of a grey-haired, heavily wrinkled Dao flashing a toothless grin in its Wednesday edition. She lives in southern Vietnam with her 52-year-old grandson Nguyen Thanh Chuong, who says she is in good health, able to converse and was walking easily until a fall a few years ago. „Had she not fallen, I‘m sure she would still have been able to live the way she did, walking around the house just like a normal person,“ said Chuong, a pig farmer. „She can now just eat and sleep on her bed for most of the day,“ he added. Authorities in Dao‘s northern home town confirmed her age. „She was born in 1887. Her identification document, like most other similar documents in the old days, doesn‘t have details about her date of birth,“ said Pham Thien Minh, the chairman of the People‘s Committee of Ho Nai precinct in Dong Nai. Minh said the precinct had two other elderly women, born in 1891 and 1902. He said all three were honoured with presents each October 1 for the International Day for Elderly People.

Dao, a long-term widow with one son, outlived two sisters and a brother, all of whom died in their 90s. She has numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Chuong said he did not know the longevity secret of his grandmother, who lives on rice-gruel with minced meat and other soft food. „She hasn‘t had vegetables and fruit for some time as she has no teeth left. I just don‘t know why she can live that long,“ he said. Japan is also home to the world‘s oldest man, 113-year-old Yukichi Chuganji.

Reuters