A man known as the “dirtiest in the world,” has died after being washed for the first time in 60 years.

Amou Haji, 94, died on Sunday (local time), in the village of Dejagh in Iran, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. People in Haji’s village were fed up with him being so dirty they took him to a bathroom and washed him.

Haji died just a few months later after he had been washed. He was afraid of being clean after suffering from emotional problems and isolated himself for decades.

The Mirror UK reported Haji also feared fresh food and drink as he thought it would make him unwell. In 2013 a short documentary called The Strange Life of Amou Haji was made about him.

In the documentary, it said his favourite food was rotting porcupines and he only drank water from a rusty oil can. He spent most of his life in the village of Dejagh where he lived in a shack the locals built him. According to IRNA Haji often became upset when locals offered to bathe him or give him clean drinking water.

• Tell report