A man from South Africa, who is believed to be the world’s oldest man, has passed away at the age of 116.

Fredie Blom, who was born in Eastern Cape in May 1904, never had his claims verified by the Guinness World Records.

He had identity documents to prove them.

Fredie said that he was a teen when he saw his entire family getting killed by the Spanish Flu.

Not only did he manage to survive the 1918 pandemic, but he also managed to live through 2 World Wars.

Fredie spent most of his life working as a laborer on a farm before he moved into the construction industry.

He retired from working when he was in his 80s, yes 80s.

During an interview with BBC in 2018, Fredie was asked if there was a secret to his long life, and he replied with no.

Fredie says that he had smoked a lot throughout his life and added that there is only one thing that is keeping alive, and that is god.

He explained:

There’s only one thing – it’s the man above. He’s got all the power. I have nothing. I can drop over any time but He holds me. Every day I still smoke two to three ‘pills’ [a local slang word for tobacco tightly rolled into a small piece of newspaper]. I use my own tobacco because I don’t smoke cigarettes. The urge to smoke is so strong. Sometimes I tell myself I’m going to stop but it’s just me lying to myself. My chest chases me to have a puff and I’m then forced to make a ‘pill’.

On August 22, 2020, the family of Fredie confirmed that he had died.

It is reported that Fredie died of natural causes in Cape Town.

The family of Fredie said that they do not believe the death of their loved one was related to coronavirus.