Woman believed to be world’s oldest person dies at 117

Maria Branyas, an American-born Spaniard considered the world’s oldest person at 117 years old, has died, her family said on Tuesday, reports AP.

In a post on Branyas’ X account, her family wrote in Catalan: “Maria Branyas has left us. She has gone the way she wanted: in her sleep, at peace, and without pain.”

The Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older, listed Branyas as the oldest known person in the world after the death of French nun Lucile Randon last year.

Branyas was born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907.

At the time of her death she was living in a nursing home in Catalan town of Olot.