Meet Frane Selak, an elderly music teacher from Croatia; and depending on how you look at it, either the world's unluckiest, or the world's luckiest person to ever live.
His unbelievable yet true story begins on a cold winter's day in 1962. Traveling from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik, a fault with the line caused his train to jump the tracks and plunge into the freezing river below. While other passengers were killed in the crash, or drowned in the sinking wreckage; suffering a broken arm Frane managed to escape and swim to shore. Little did he know at the time but this incident marked the beginning of a series of bizarre events that would occur over the next forty years of his life.
The following year while traveling aboard a small plane bound for Rijeka, disaster struck for a second time. In mid-flight both engines stopped working, cabin pressure dropped, and the plane began losing altitude. You might have thought that this was probably the worst thing that could have happened, but you'd be wrong. While the plane plummeted to the ground a malfunctioning door blew off and poor Frane was sucked out of the aircraft. Tumbling through the air without a parachute Frane must have thought he was a goner, but while the plane crashed into the side of a hill killing all 19 on board. Frane somehow managed to land in a haystack and survived with only minor injuries.
Another two years went by before Frane's next brush with death. This time while traveling by bus. Ice on the road caused the wheels to lock up and the vehicle skidded through the safety guard and into the valley below. 4 passengers were killed but not Frane.
Tired or perhaps terrified a public transport, Frane began to travel mostly by car, but that didn't seem to help either. In 1970 his car engine burst into flames, but Frane was able to jump free before it exploded.
Then three years later in 1973, the fuel pump in his new car ruptured causing another engine fire, but this time the flames were blown straight at him through the air vents. Needless to say he survived this too, albeit with less hair than he began with.
In 1995 he survived being hit by a bus, and in 1986 a careless truck driver forced him off the side of a mountain road. His car plunged 300 feet and exploded in a ball of flames. But Frane wasn't in it, having somehow jumped out the window. He was found clinging to a tree some way down the cliff face.
Now Frane's story may have ended there, as since then Frane hasn't been involved in any other death-defying incidents, however, there is one last twist to this man's incredible story. In 2003 at the age of 72 Frane bought a lottery ticket. His first one in over 40 years.
He won the jackpot! Safely securing his place as the luckiest unlucky person to ever live.
