Onetime Heaviest Guy in World Dies at 48

He had slimmed down to 867 pounds in recent years
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 27, 2014 2:01 AM CDT
Man Who Was Once World's Heaviest Dies at 48
Manuel Uribe and his then-fiancee Claudia Solis pose for pictures in Monterrey, Mexico in October 2008.   (AP Photo/Monica Rueda)

Slimming down didn't lead to longevity for Manuel Uribe: The Mexican, who topped the scales at 1,230 pounds in 2006 when he was the world's heaviest man, has died at the age of 48, the AP reports. He had slimmed down to around 867 pounds in recent years but remained bedridden at his mother's home in Monterrey. Officials say he was taken to the hospital—by crane—earlier this month because of an abnormal heartbeat.

Uribe made the news in 2008, when he got married for the second time. He left the house—but not his bed—for the ceremony, which he was transported to in a flatbed truck. He got married for the first time in 1987, when he was living in Dallas and selling tacos on a street corner, Fox reports. Uribe said he had always been chubby, but his weight began to balloon in 1992 and he had been bedridden since 2002. No cause of death has been confirmed, but he is believed to have suffered from liver problems as well as heart trouble. (More Manuel Uribe stories.)

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