Newsmaker

Colombian is world's shortest man at 27 inches

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-09-07 09:05

Edward Nino Hernandez poses with his Guinness World Records certificate in his home in Bogota September 6, 2010. [Agencies]

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Edward Nino Hernandez is in many ways a typical 24-year-old Colombian male. He loves to dance reggaeton, dreams of owning a car, preferably a Mercedes, and wants to see the world.

Top on his list of people he would like to meet are Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

What sets Nino (pronounced NEE-nyoh) apart is his size.

He is slightly taller than a piece of carry-on luggage and weighs just 22 pounds (10 kilograms).

Nino has just been officially certified as the world's shortest living man by Guinness World Records, measuring 27 inches (70 centimeters).

"He hasn't grown since he was 2 years old," his mother, Noemi Hernandez, said of the oldest of her five living children.

The previous titleholder was He Pingping of China, who was 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) taller and died March 13. The Guinness people discovered Nino afterward.

Related readings:  Chinese He, world's smallest man dies at 21  World's shortest man meets world's tallest man  World's shortest man thinks big  Nepal boy shortest in world

They say Nino's reign is not likely to last long, however.

Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal is expected to take over after he turns 18 on October 14. He measures about 22 inches (56 centimeters) and is currently recognized by Guinness as the shortest living teen.

Doctors never could explain why Nino is so small, his parents say.

"They never gave us a diagnosis," his mother, Noemi Hernandez, said during an interview in the family's sparely furnished apartment in Bosa, a mostly poor district of southern Bogota.

Hernandez, 43, said Nino weighed just 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) at birth and was 15 inches (38 centimeters) long.

She said doctors at the National University studied him until he was 3, then lost interest. She and her husband, a security guard, lost a daughter who was similarly small in 1992 when she was about to complete a year of life.

Edward Nino Hernandez walks with his mother Nohemi outside their home in Bogota September 6, 2010. [Agencies]