Oldest woman dies just before 115th birthday
12 April 2012
The world's oldest person, a Japanese woman on the southern island of Okinawa, has died a week before her 115th birthday.
Kama Chinen, who spent her final years at a care centre, was born on May 10, 1895, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks the world's oldest people.
Mrs Chinen became the world's oldest known person when Gertrude Baines died in a Los Angeles hospital at age 115 in September. The oldest person is now 114-year-old Eugenie Blanchard, a Frenchwoman born on February 16, 1896.
