Alberto Achacaz Walakial, member of dwindling tribe

SANTIAGO, Chile - Alberto Achacaz Walakial, one of the last surviving members of the nomadic Kaweskar tribe that once plied the waters off Chile's Patagonian coast, has died of blood poisoning, local media reported Tuesday.

Government documents listed Mr. Achacaz's age at 79, but some believe he was close to 90.

Experts estimate that only about a dozen full-blooded Kaweskars, or Alacalufes, survive, and the group appears destined to disappear in the near future, because there are no women of fertile age left.

Mr. Achacaz was hospitalized at the end of June in Punta Arenas, 2,175 miles south of Chile's capital, after appearing before doctors malnourished, dehydrated, and weighing under 130 pounds, said Dr. Hector Gomez, director of the Armed Forces hospital.

Septic shock affected his lungs and gall bladder.

A local newspaper, La Prensa Austral, reported that he died on Monday.

Mr. Achacaz lived alone in a modest home, which lacked a proper drainage system, after his wife died 11 years ago, the daily reported in January. He earned a living making small canoes and weaving baskets.