Odd News

'World's oldest person' 128th birthday

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-04 13:45

Friends and relatives of Cruz Hernandez's gathered on Wednesday to celebrate her 128th birthday, a milestone that might make her the world's oldest person.

Cruz Hernandez [El Mundo]

Hernandez, who relatives say spends most of her time dozing and no longer speaks, was surrounded by some 200 people at her party, some bearing a cake and others dressed as Salvadoran mythological heroes.

According to national records, Hernandez was born on May 3, 1878, in one of the country's central provinces, where she gave birth to 13 children. She now has 60 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and 25 great-great grandchildren.

National birth registry officials sent Hernandez's documents to the Guinness World Records organization last year but have yet to hear whether the case was accepted.

Guinness claims Ecuadorean Maria Esther de Capovilla is the world's oldest living woman at age 116.

According to the organization, the longest any woman has ever lived is 122 years. The oldest man was 120 when he died in 1986.