World’s oldest man, Fredie Bloom, has died at the age of 116.

According to the international news agency, the South African man was born in Eastern Cape Province in May 1904.

He had worked as a laborer, first on a farm and then in the construction industry – and only retired when he was in his 80s.

The man has witnessed the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, two world wars, and apartheid when he was a teenager.

In 2018, Fredie Bloom had talked to BBC during which he had said that there was no special secret to his long life.

“There’s only one thing – it’s the man above [God]. He’s got all the power. I have nothing. I can drop over any time but He holds me,” he said.

Mr. Bloom’s family reported that he passed away due to natural causes on Saturday in Cape Town.

“Two weeks ago oupa [grandfather] was still chopping wood,” family spokesman Andre Naidoo told AFP news agency. “He was a strong man, full of pride.”

But within days Mr. Blom shrank “from a big man to a small person”, he added.

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