World's oldest man dies in Spain

Created: 01/18/2022, 22:32

By: Christina Denk

In this picture Saturnino de la Fuente (left) celebrates his 110th birthday in 2019.

He has now passed away at the age of 112.

© Ayuntamiento de Leon/dpa

The Spaniard Saturnino de la Fuente was the oldest man in the world.

He has now died at the age of 112.

He had survived a house collapse at the age of 28.

Madrid/León - 112 years made him the oldest man in the world.

The Spaniard Saturnino de la Fuente died on Tuesday.

He didn't hold the title of the oldest man for very long.

World's oldest man dies in Spain: He only held the title since last year

Since September 10 last year, Saturnino de la Fuente has been listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest man on the planet - after the death of Puerto Rican Emilio Flores.

In less than a month, on February 12, he would have turned 113.

Two of the oldest men in the world had also turned 112.

One of them only held the title for a few months.

The life of Saturnino de la Fuente was "extinguished like a candle within a few seconds" in the city of León on Tuesday, the Europa Press news agency and other media quoted relatives of the man as saying.

He died in León, about 300 kilometers north-west of Madrid, in the house of one of his daughters.

Three of his eight children had already died before him.

World's oldest man dies in Spain after surviving a house collapse at 28

De la Fuente was in relatively good physical and mental condition until the very end. The Spaniard, who is only 1.50 meters tall, has been through a lot in his long life and has survived a lot, it was said. His worst experience is reported to have been in 1937, when he survived the Spanish Civil War under the rubble of a house that had been completely destroyed when a German Condor Legion fighter plane crashed.

At that time, the Condor Legion supported the putschist leader and later dictator Francisco Franco.

The trained cobbler and longtime owner of a shoe factory was a die-hard football fan, former player and honorary member of the Puente Castro FC club.

"Pepino", as De la Fuente was called by relatives and friends, was also the first person to be vaccinated against the corona virus in the province of León at the end of 2020.

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