News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

An Indian father of 10 claims he is the world’s oldest person – at 141.

Feroz-ud-Din Mir has outlived four wives, and if his birth date proves to be correct it would make his current spouse Misra more than 60 years his junior.

According to reports he has a government-issued birth certificate which shows he was born on March 10, 1872.

If genuine, that makes the former fruit and nut trader 27 years older than Japanese woman Misao Okawa who, at 115, is listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest person in the world.

Despite his great claimed age, Feroz can still walk.

He talks in a broken voice and, although his eyesight has faded, he can still recognise members of his family.

Guinness World Records are now thought to be investigating the claims.

Feroz lives in the mountains of north Kashmir’s Uri district and rarely ventures far from home. For many years he lived and worked in Pakistan where in the early 1890s he married his first wife, a local Punjabi girl.

“There were no boundaries between India and Pakistan at that time,” he said in an interview with an Indian magazine.

“It was easy to go between the two. I used to work with a business family in Karachi who would buy nuts from me. I would take nuts from Kashmir which were very famous in Karachi.”

After his first wife died, Feroz moved back to India and outlived three other wives.

Fifth wife Misra said of Feroz: “His experience of life is cruel. He used to tell me stories of an earthquake which ­happened in the late 1800s when he was on a trader trip to Karachi. He saved many lives. He was witness to some of the most significant events in the past century.”

Feroz said that after the earthquake, which destroyed the Sopore and Pattan area of north Kashmir in the 1880s, he feared his family had been killed.

“I was so happy when I came back to find them well and alive,” he said.

He also recounted the time when Pakistani raiders went to Kashmir in the late 19th Century.

“We all went hiding in the mountains,” he said.

“They destroyed Mohra Power House (a power station) and killed the man who was guarding it.”

He explained how much simpler life was when he was younger, saying: “There was no concept of electricity and other comforts. As life started becoming easy, people couldn’t live easily with each other.”

His grandson Abdul Rashid said his grandfather’s health had declined in the past 10 years. “We used to hear so many stories from him when we were young,” he said. “He is an interesting man who has seen life very closely.

“His business of exporting nuts to ­Pakistan had taken him to different cities of Pakistan. He would tell us stories about Pakistan of old days when it was still a part of India. But those days are gone now.”

The man previously thought to be the world’s oldest person – 116-year-old Jiroemon Kimura – died last month.

Jiroemon, of Kyotango, near Kyoto in western Japan, had been in hospital suffering from pneumonia since May.

Born in 1897, he worked for the post office for 45 years and his retirement lasted more than half a century.