World known oldest person has died at the age of 117

Metro is reporting that Emma Morano, who is believed to have been the last surviving person born in the 1800s, passed away at her home in northern Italy.

She swore to the end that the secret of a long life was a diet of two raw eggs a day.

Dr Carlo Bava, who announced the death, said that Ms Morano’s carer had called him to say she had died today while sitting in an armchair at her home in Verbania, a town on Italy’s Lake Maggiore.

He said he had last seen Ms Morano, who was just 12-years-old when the Titanic sank, on Friday when ‘she thanked me and held my hand’, as she did every time he called on her.

She is believed to have been the world’s oldest person

While she had been spending more time sleeping and less time speaking in recent weeks, she had still eaten her daily raw egg and biscuits that day, he said.

Dr Bava, who also lives in Verbania, had been her doctor for nearly a quarter of a century.

Ms Morano, born on November 29 1899, had been living in a one-room apartment, where she was kept company by her carer and two elderly nieces.

Dr Bava said: ‘She didn’t suffer. I’m happy she didn’t suffer but passed away that way, tranquilly.’

He said she had been her usual chatterbox self until a few weeks ago.

‘She was slowly fading away,’ he said.