Frano Selak
Frano Selak | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 June 1929 |
| Died | 30 November 2016 |
| Nationality | Croatian |
| Other names | Frane Selak |
| Occupation | Music educator |
| Known for | Escaping death |
Frano Selak or Frane Selak (14 June 1929 – 30 November 2016) was a Croatian man who was known for his frequent brushes with death. He has been described as either the world's luckiest or unluckiest man.
Selak's near death experiences began in January 1962 when he was riding a train through a cold, rainy canyon and the train flew off the tracks and crashed in a river. An unknown person pulled Selak to safety, while 17 other passengers drowned.[1] Selak suffered a broken arm and hypothermia.[2] The next year, during his first and only plane ride, he was blown out of a malfunctioning plane door and landed in a haystack; the plane crashed, killing 19 people.[2][3][4][5] Three years after that, in 1966, a bus that he was riding in skidded off the road and into a river, drowning four passengers. Selak swam to shore with a few cuts and bruises.[2]
In 1970, his car caught fire as he was driving and he managed to escape before the fuel tank blew up. Three years later, in another driving incident, the engine of his car was doused with hot oil from a malfunctioning fuel pump, causing flames to shoot through the air vents. Selak's hair was completely singed in this incident, but he was otherwise unharmed. In 1995, he was struck by a bus in Zagreb, but sustained only minor injuries. In 1996 he eluded a head-on collision with a United Nations truck on a mountain curve by swerving into a guardrail, which gave way under the force. Selak was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected out of the car, clinging to a tree branch as he watched his vehicle fall 300 feet. Two days after his 73rd birthday,[1] Selak won €900000 (US$1,110,000) (£702,920) in the lottery.[2][6] At the time of his win, he also married for the fifth time.[2] While he purchased two houses and a boat with his winnings,[1] in 2010 he decided to give most of the remaining money away to relatives and friends after deciding to live a frugal lifestyle.[2]
None of Selak's near death experiences have ever been independently verified, and at times some of his accounts of his near death experiences were inconsistent.[7][8][9] He died at the age of 86.[10][11]
References
- ^ a b c Goos, Hauke (16 June 2003). "Stirb langsam" [Die Hard]. Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 24 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Hough, Andrew (14 May 2010). "Frano Selak: 'world's luckiest man' gives away his lottery fortune". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ PlaneCrashInfo.com listing for all crashes worldwide in 1963
- ^ Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives search for crashes in Croatia in 1963 Archived May 6, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Aviation Safety Network search for all plane crashes in Croatia Archived October 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Fortune smiles on unluckiest man". The Scotsman. 18 June 2003. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
- ^ BBC Trending. “#BBCtrending: Is the 'world's luckiest man' being exploited?” bbc.com, BBC, 14 May 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-27414609. Retrieved January 17 2022.
- ^ . Ripley's. “LUCKIEST OR UNLUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD? HE'S ESCAPED A FATAL PLANE CRASH, A SINKING BUS, AND EVEN AN EXPLODING CAR!”, Ripley's, August 20, 2018, https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/unluckiest-man/. Retrieved January 17 2022.
- ^ . All That's Interesting, John Kuroski, “The Seven Unbelievable Survival Stories Of Frane Selak”, All That's Interesting, June 4, 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/frane-selak. Retrieved January 17 2022.
- ^ "Supruga loto milijunaša: 'Svima je pomogao, a umro je razočaran!'". Story.HR (in Croatian). Retrieved 2021-11-14.
- ^ Vejnović, Saša (30 November 2016). "Oni su čudom preživjeli zrakoplovne nesreće: Otkrivamo koje je najsigurnije mjesto u avionu". Dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). Nova TV (Croatia). Retrieved 28 November 2021.