World's shortest man dies in Nepal at 27

KATHMANDU, Jan 17 (MENA) - The world's shortest man who could walk, as verified by Guinness World Records, died Friday at a hospital in Nepal, his family said.

Khagendra Thapa Magar, who measured 67.08 centimetres (2 feet 2.41 inches), died of pneumonia at a hospital in Pokhara, 200 kilometres from Kathmandu, where he lived with his parents, France 24 reported.

"He has been in and out of hospital because of pneumonia. But this time his heart was also affected. He passed away today," Mahesh Thapa Magar, his brother, told AFP.

Magar was first declared the world's shortest man in 2010 after his 18th birthday, photographed holding a certificate only a bit smaller than him.

However he eventually lost the title after Nepal's Chandra Bahadur Dangi, who measured 54.6 centimetres, was discovered and named the world's shortest mobile man.

Magar regained the title after Dangi's death in 2015.