A woman who once held the Guinness World Record for being the shortest woman in the world has died aged just 33.
Elif Kocaman, who lived in the town of Kadirli in the Turkish Province of Osmaniye, spent a year as the Guinness World Record holder for the shortest woman in the world.
She remained the shortest woman in Turkey when she fell ill and was taken to the ICU on Tuesday.
However, her condition worsened and she passed away from multiple organ failure caused by pneumonia.
Her passing was reported by local media yesterday.
Kocaman, who suffered from dwarfism, entered the Guinness World Records in 2010 for her short height of just 72.6 centimetres (2'5").
She said at the time: "I always hoped that one day the world would recognise me. It was hard when I was a child because all my classmates used to tease me for being small.
"But now I am famous because of my size. So it makes me feel like I am much taller. I hope to travel and to meet lots of people including the tallest man in the world.
"God made me the way I am and I am proud of that. I hope I can find someone who will love me one day."
Her mother Hatun was quoted as saying at the time: "There were no problems in my pregnancy with her and I gave birth naturally.
"She weighed 3lbs 10oz when she was born and was a normal baby. We never noticed any problems until she was one. Then we noticed she seemed to be growing more slowly than other babies.
"She seemed to always stay the same size. By the time she was four it looked like she had stopped growing. We asked the doctors to help, but they couldn't tell us what the problem was.
"We hoped she might start growing later on, but she never did. By the time she was 10, we realised she would always be this way."
Elif kept her title for one year until Bridgette Jordan of the USA, who was 69 centimetres (2'3") tall, took her record in 2011.
Jordan passed away in June 2019, and the current shortest living woman is Jyoti Kisanji Amge of India, who is 62.8 centimetres (2'1") tall.
Kocaman's funeral has taken place and her body has been buried in her hometown Kadirli.
