입력 2022.10.26.

BBC 원문 9시간 전

[시사뷰타임즈] 언론들이 “세계에서 가장 지저분한 사람” 이라고 칭했던 한 은둔자가, 수십 년만에 처음으로 닦은 지 불과 몇 달 먼에, 94세로 사망했했다.

아모우 하지는 반세기가 넘도록 비누와 물을 거부해 왔었는데, 자신을 아프게 만들 것이라고 두려워 했다.

이란 남부 하르스 주에 살았던 이 이란인은 예전에 자신을 닦아 주려는 마을 사람들을 피해왔었다.

그러나, 현지 언론은 아모우 하지가 마침내 굴복하고 몇 달 전에 닦았었다고 말한다.

이란의 IRNA 통신사에 따르면, 그는 이렇게 닦은 지후 앓게됐고 일요일에 사망했다고 한다.

앞서 2014년애 티어런 (테헤란) 시대 지와의 취재대담에서, 그는 자신이 좋아하는 식사는 호저 (고슴도치) 라고 밝혔고, 데이가 마을의 걱정했던 이웃사람들이 지어준 판자집 같은 벽돌집과 땅에 판 구멍 사이에서 살았다.

그는 동 언론에 당시 자신이 이례적인 쪽으로 간 것은 젊었을 때 받았던 “감정상의 차질” 때문이었다고 말했다.

IRNA는 여러해 동안 목욕을 하지 않다보니 그의 피부는 “검댕과 고름” 으로 덮여 있었고, 한편 그의 식단은 썩은 고기와 오래된 기름 깡통에 있는 비 위생적인 물 등으로 돼있었다고 했다.

그는 또한 담배를 좋아하여, 어떤 때는 한 번에 한 개피 이상의 담배를 물고 연기를 내뿜는 사진 촬영에 응했다.

하지만, 그가 목욕을 하지 않고 가장 오랫 동안 산 기록을 보유하고 있는 것인지의 여부는 논의 좀 해볼 문제이어 왔다. 2009년, 35년 동안 -보도될 당시- 닦지도 않고 양치질도 하지 않았던 인도 남자에 대한 보도들이 있었다. 그에게 어떤 일이 있었는지는 그 당시 당장은 분명치 않았다.

Iranian man who didn't wash for half a century dies at 94

 

Published 9 hours ago

 

Amou Haji (uncle Haji) sits in front of an open brick shack that the villagers constructed for him, on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province, on December 28, 2018.

IMAGE SOURCE,AFP

Image caption,

Amou Haji feared water and soap, local reports say

 

A hermit dubbed by media as "the world's dirtiest man" has died at the age of 94, just months after having his first wash in decades.

 

Amou Haji had refused to use soap and water for more than half a century, fearing it would make him sick.

 

The Iranian, who lived in the southern province of Fars, had avoided previous attempts by villagers to get him clean.

 

But, local media say, Amou Haji finally succumbed to pressure and washed a few months ago.

 

According to Iran's IRNA news agency, he became ill shortly afterwards and died on Sunday.

 

In a previous interview, given to the Tehran Times in 2014, he revealed his favourite meal was porcupine, and that he lived between a hole in the ground and a brick shack built by concerned neighbours in the village of Dejgah.

 

He told the outlet at the time his unusual choices were down to "emotional setbacks" when he was younger.

 

Years of not bathing had left him with skin covered in "soot and pus", IRNA said, while his diet had consisted of rotten meat and unsanitary water drunk from an old oil can.

 

Amou Haji (uncle Haji) is pictured on the outskirts of the village of Dezhgah in the Dehram district of the southwestern Iranian Fars province, on December 28, 2018

IMAGE SOURCE,AFP

Image caption,

Amou Haji is not known to have had any family, but the villagers tried to care for him

 

He was also fond of smoking, being pictured on at least one occasion puffing on more than one cigarette at once.

 

Attempts to bathe him, or offer him clean water to drink, made him sad, the news agency said.

 

However, whether he holds the record for having gone the longest without taking a bath has been a matter of some debate. Back in 2009, there were reports of an Indian man who had - at that point - not washed or brushed his teeth for 35 years. What had happened to him since was not immediately clear.

 

[기사/사진: BBC]