World's shortest man dies at 75

By Deepak Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AA) - Nepal's Chandra Bahadur Dangi, who held the record for world's shortest man, died in a hospital in American Samoa, a U.S. territory in the South Pacific Ocean, on Friday. He was 75.

Dangi, who at 21.5 inches (54.6 centimeters) was declared by the Guinness World Records in 2012 the world’s shortest man, was on a tour of the island and was admitted to Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center at Pago Pago six days ago.

The cause of the death was pneumonia, according to his aide Thaneshwar Guragai. 

Until the Guinness World Records recognized Dangi as the world's shortest man in February 2012, he was living in obscurity and had no way of knowing about his exceptionality. That February afternoon, Dangi, a laconic man who weighs 12 kilograms, was surrounded by photographers and reporters in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, as the Guinness officials handed him the certificate.

He was also declared shortest man ever to be measured by the Guinness World Records. “I am very happy. My wish is to travel the world and see different cultures,” he told reporters at the time. 

Dangi, a poor, single farmer, who had never stepped out of his remote village in midwestern Nepal, then found himself in the media spotlight. 

A semi-literate man, he was a guest of numerous television shows around the world. 

Dangi had been in American Samoa for the past six months, gracing a circus show, his aide Guragai told Anadolu Agency. 

In November last year, Dangi travelled to the U.K. to take part in a function organized by Guinness Book of World Records to mark the Guinness World Record Day. 

In London, he met Sultan Kosen, a Turkish farmer who holds the world's tallest man record at 215cm (8 ft 3 in), an experience he described as gratifying.