Woman turns 130 in Georgia

A WOMAN from a remote village in the former Soviet republic of Georgia turned 130 yesterday, claiming to be the world’s oldest person.

A spokesman for the country’s national register said Antisa Khvichava was born on July 8, 1880.

He said Khvichava retired from her job as a tea and corn picker in 1965, when she was 85.

Officials visited her yesterday in her village of Sachire and displayed two Soviet-era documents noting her date of birth as indicated in her birth certificate, which had been lost.

The Gerontology Research Group said the oldest documented person is 114-year-old Eugenie Blanchard of Saint Barthelemy, France. It has yet to examine Khvichava’s claim.