Belarus's oldest person dies at 124

Maria Vasilyevna Sharaya, the oldest person in Belarus, has passed away in the village of Verkhniye Zhary (Gomel Region, the Republic of Belarus). She was 124 years old. "It is possible that, apart from old age, death was also caused by the cold that Mariya Vasilyevna could not overcome," the Verkhniye Zhary village council told Interfax. Over the past few years, the "long-liver" had received birthday greetings and gifts from Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. By the way, Mariya Sharaya lived in a village located in the area that had been exposed to Chernobyl radioactive contamination.