Channa, 42, died because he could not be treated in time and because a kidney required for his size could not be located for him. He was flown to the United States a few months back after the Pakistan government agreed to fund part of his treatment while Pakistanis from all over the world chipped in with their donations.

Channa, who measured 7 feet 8 inches, will now create a new record with the size of his grave, which has been dug for him in his ancestral town of Dadu in Sindh province. Channa will be buried there over the weekend.

The world's tallest man was always short of money. He worked as attendant as part of a team that took care of the shrine of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, one of the most revered saints in the province. Channa lived in Sehwan and wasemployed by the Sindh religious affairs department.

This year, Channa was missing from the annual gathering at Sehwan of Hazrat Shahbaz Qalandar, another saint from Sindh. Health problems kept him from his work for most part of the year. Doctors could not find a kidney of the size required for Channa's transplant. They advised him to go abroad where the chances of locating a larger kidney would be better. This was not to be.

``I am told I can find a kidney of the size I require in Africa. This is painful for me but I have to get this treatment,'' he said, when interviewed in Islamabad. There were other problems in Channa's treatment in Pakistan. At the Shifa Hospital, where Channa was admitted after his condition deteriorated upon arrival in Islamabad, doctors complained that Channa's head was too large for the CT scanner. ``The size of the CT scan chamber is too small for Channa,'' a doctor said.