<p>A 116-year-old survivor of the 1918 Spanish Flu believed to be among the world's oldest people died Saturday in South Africa, his family said.</p>.<p>Born on May 8 1904, Fredie Blom had "lived this long because of God's grace," he told AFP this year.</p>.<p>Guinness World Records lists the oldest currently living man as Briton Bob Weighton, aged 112, but South African media have described Blom as "unofficially" the world's oldest.</p>.<p>Blom's entire family was wiped out by the Spanish Flu pandemic when he was just a teenager.</p>.<p>But he himself survived and went on to raise the three children of his wife of 46 years, Jeanette, as his own, becoming grandfather to five over the years.</p>.<p>"Two weeks ago oupa (grandfather) was still chopping wood," family spokesman Andre Naidoo told AFP fondly, recalling the old man using a 4 pound hammer.</p>.<p>"He was a strong man, full of pride," he added.</p>.<p>But within 3 days, his family saw him shrink "from a big man to a small person".</p>.<p>Born in the rural town of Adelaide, tucked near the Great Winterberg mountain range of South Africa's Eastern Cape province, Blom died at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.</p>.<p>His death was "not a COVID death at all, it's normal natural death," Naidoo said in reference to the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>A 116-year-old survivor of the 1918 Spanish Flu believed to be among the world's oldest people died Saturday in South Africa, his family said.</p>.<p>Born on May 8 1904, Fredie Blom had "lived this long because of God's grace," he told AFP this year.</p>.<p>Guinness World Records lists the oldest currently living man as Briton Bob Weighton, aged 112, but South African media have described Blom as "unofficially" the world's oldest.</p>.<p>Blom's entire family was wiped out by the Spanish Flu pandemic when he was just a teenager.</p>.<p>But he himself survived and went on to raise the three children of his wife of 46 years, Jeanette, as his own, becoming grandfather to five over the years.</p>.<p>"Two weeks ago oupa (grandfather) was still chopping wood," family spokesman Andre Naidoo told AFP fondly, recalling the old man using a 4 pound hammer.</p>.<p>"He was a strong man, full of pride," he added.</p>.<p>But within 3 days, his family saw him shrink "from a big man to a small person".</p>.<p>Born in the rural town of Adelaide, tucked near the Great Winterberg mountain range of South Africa's Eastern Cape province, Blom died at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.</p>.<p>His death was "not a COVID death at all, it's normal natural death," Naidoo said in reference to the coronavirus pandemic.</p>