Georgia claims world's oldest person

Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Georgia say a woman in a remote mountain village celebrated her 130th birthday Thursday -- a claim that would make her the oldest person on Earth if confirmed.

A spokesman for the Civil registry branch of the Georgian Justice Ministry (Georgiy Meurnishvili) says Antisa Khvichava has Soviet-era documents showing she was born on July 8, 1880.

The spokesman said Antisa's original birth certificate had been lost. The official told the Associated Press that Khvichava retired from her job harvesting tea and picking corn in 1965, at age 85.

Georgia's privately-run Rustavi-2 television said Sachino village governors were expecting official guests from the capital, Tbilisi, Thursday to help celebrate the occasion.

Gerentologists say the world's oldest documented person is 114-year-old French woman Eugenie Blanchard. The Georgian claim has not been authenticated.


/AzerTAc/