About 140 years old: the oldest person on Earth lives in Afghanistan

The head of a large family, Akel Nazir, who has reached the age of 140, lives in the eastern Afghan province of Khost. He can be recognized as the oldest person in the world, TOLOnews reports.

There are about 100 people in Akel Nazir's family. He says that he was about 30 years old when Afghanistan gained independence from Great Britain (in 1919). He remembers well the era of the reign of King Amanullah Khan, as well as the celebration of liberation from British colonial rule.

"I was in the palace with the Khan and I remember saying that the British were fleeing on their knees. Everyone rejoiced and praised the king for expelling the English. We were accompanied by many leaders then, but now they are no longer alive," said Akel Nazir.

Nazir's relatives appealed to the authorities to officially confirm his age, since archival work is well developed in Afghanistan and documents have been stored for centuries. The press secretary of the governor of Khost province, Mustagfar Gorbaz, said that a special commission would be sent to verify the data of the centenarian. If his age is confirmed, Nazir will not only receive medical support, but will also apply for inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records.

"We will send a technical team to establish the age of this person, who may have reached 140 years. If the documents or examination confirm this, we will begin the procedure for recognizing him as the oldest inhabitant of the planet," Gorbaz said.

Until now, the Frenchwoman Jeanne Kalman, who died in 1997 at the age of 122, was considered the oldest centenarian on the planet. Now the oldest inhabitant of the Earth is 116-year-old Ina Canabarro Lucas from Brazil. The oldest man on the planet was 116-year-old Japanese Jiroemon Kimura, who died in 2013.