The world's shortest man Chandra Dangi, 75, has died of pneumonia in Hospital

The world’s shortest man has died at the age of 75 after falling victim to pneumonia.

Chandra Dangi of Nepal passed away at the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center in Pago Pago in American Samoa in the Pacific early Friday morning following a brief illness.

Family friend Sujit Dilip, owner of India's well-known Rambo Circus, based in Pune, said: 'Today, our circus is flooded with tears at the loss of the world's smallest man...whom we lovingly called Prince Chandra.'

Mr Dangi, who was just 21.5ins, broke the record in 2012 when he was crowned by Guinness World Records in Kathmandu, India. 

A spokeswoman at the hospital said he died of an undisclosed disease but it was believed he’d been suffering from pneumonia, as reported by the Kathmandu Post.

He was being treated in Nepal but travelled the 7,500 miles to American Samoa for an appearance and had to be rushed to hospital after his symptoms worsened.

Mr Dangi was popular in his area after his title enabled him to travel abroad and earn money for Reemkholi, the Nepalese village where he lived some 335 miles southwest of Kathmandu.

Before that he made placemats and head straps for villagers carrying heavy loads.

The tiny man, who was a primordial dwarf, was the same size as six cans of baked beans stacked on top of each other.

He beat the benchmark set by Gul Mohammed, from New Delhi, India, who measured 22.5ins and died at the age of 40 in 1997.

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