The world's oldest known person dies aged 118: spokesman to AFP

The world's oldest known person, French nun Lucile Randon, has died aged 118, a spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.

Randon, known as Sister Andre, was born in southern France on February 11, 1904, when World War I was still a decade away.

She died in her sleep at her nursing home in Toulon, spokesman David Tavella said.

"There is great sadness but... it was her desire to join her beloved brother. For her, it's a liberation," Tavella, of the Sainte-Catherine-Laboure nursing home, told AFP.

Randon was born in the year New York opened its first subway and when the Tour de France had only been staged once.

Her days in the nursing home were punctuated by prayer, mealtimes and visits from residents and hospice workers.