'World's Loneliest Man' Dies

A tribe member who has been called the "loneliest man in the world" has died, officials say. The man, whose name was not known, had lived in total isolation for the past 26 years. The BBC reports: He was known as Man of the Hole because he dug deep holes, some of which he used to trap animals while others appear to be hiding spaces. His body was found on August 23 in a hammock outside his straw hut. There were no signs of violence. He is thought to have died of natural causes at an estimated age of 60. The man was the last of an indigenous group living in the Tanaru indigenous area in the state of Rondonia, which borders Bolivia. The majority of his tribe are believed to have been killed as early as the 1970s by ranchers wanting to expand their land. In 1995, six of the remaining members of his tribe were killed in an attack by illegal miners, making him the sole survivor. Brazil's Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai) only became aware of his survival in 1996, and had been monitoring the area ever since for his own safety. It was during a routine patrols that Funai agent Altair Jose Algayer found the man's body covered in macaw feathers in a hammock outside one of his straw huts. Indigenous expert Marcelo dos Santos told local media that he thought the man had placed the feathers on himself, knowing that he was about to die. "As he had avoided any contact with outsiders, it is not known what language the man spoke or which ethnic group he may have belonged to," adds the report. "A post-mortem will be carried out to try to determine whether he had contracted a disease."

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