Man with world’s longest hair dies

CHIANG MAI: A Thai hilltribesman who held the record for having the world’s longest hair has died of a stroke, leaving his elder brother to claim the title, police and local reports said Wednesday. Hmong tribesman Hoo Sateow, 77, whose lengthy locks were measured by Guinness World Records in 1997 at 5.15 meters, died in his village outside Chiang Mai on Monday after suffering a stroke, Thai Rath newspaper reported. The hilltribesman’s relatives told the newspaper that they suspected he died because local spirits were angered by the arrival of tourists who came to see Hoo’s hair. Hoo’s elder brother, Yi Seng-la, 88, whose hair has been measured at 5 meters is next in line for the title, the paper said. Hoo refused to cut his hair because he believed it would cause him to fall ill, and washed it only once a year.