OWENSBORO, KY— Officials in the former Soviet republic of Georgia claim that a woman from a remote mountain village has recently turned 130 years-old, making her the oldest person on Earth.

A spokesman for the civil registry at the Justice Ministry, Georgiy Meurnishvili, stated that the woman in question, Anista Khvichava, was born on July 8, 1880. In accordance with the records, the elderly woman, who lives with her 40-year-old grandson in an tranquil vine-covered country abode in the middle of the mountains, retired from her job as a tea and corn picker in 1965. By the records, she would have been 85 at the time.

Though Khvichava's age has been verified through two Soviet-era documents, several officials, neighbors, friends, and descendants, her age couldn't be independently verified at the time. In addition, her birth certificate was lost among the astounding numbers of certificates to have disappeared in the past century amid revolutions and a civil war, which followed the collapse of the Russian Empire.

As of today, The Gerontology Research Group (a worldwide group) recognizes 114 year-old Eugenie Blanchard of Saint Barthelemy, France, as the world's oldest person. However, the organization has yet to examine Khvichava's claim.

Luke Short
iSurf News
Posted by Karen Klay Orange - iSurf News