The 75-year-old Nepali deemed the world's shortest man by the Guinness Book of Records died last week during a trip to American Samoa, the Hindustan Times reported.

Chandra Bahadur Dangi, who lived in a remote village about 250 miles from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, shot to fame in 2013 after he posed for pictures with Sultan Kosen, the Turkish man believed to be the world's tallest person. Dangi's height was 1 foot 9.5 inches, while Kosen, aged 32, measures 8 feet 2.75 inches.

Dangi was touring American Samoa, a U.S. territory in the South Pacific, when he fell sick, the Indian newspaper detailed. He was admitted to the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center in the island's capital of Pago Pago, where he died on Thursday evening.

"Guinness World Records ... is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Mr. Chandra Dangi, who held the title of shortest man in the world," the self-declared "global authority in record breaking achievements" said in a statement, expressing its "sincere and heartfelt condolences to Mr. Dangi's family in this difficult time."

The Nepali would be remembered "as an iconic and extraordinary record holder," Guinness noted.

Dangi, who had never left his home village prior to being recognized by Guinness World Records in 2012, was the seventh sibling of a family of six brothers and two sisters, all of whom are normal in height, according to the Hindustan Times.

Born on Nov. 30, 1939 in rural Nepal, he broke the record of Gul Mohammed, a 1 foot-10-inch tall Indian man, who had been considered the world's shortest between 1990 and 2011, India Today noted.

When he traveled to London to meet Kosen in 2012, Dangi said he was fulfilling his "lifelong dream" to travel, according to The Inquisitr. And the Turkish man, for his part, spoke in warm terms about the encounter.

"Even though he is short and I am tall, we have had similar struggles throughout our lives, and when I look into Chandra's eyes, I can see he's a good man," Kosen noted.