20/02/2021
The luckiest man in the world
Frane Selak, of Croatia, has a reputation as the world’s luckiest man (or unluckiest, depending on your outlook). He’s said to have survived a train crash, a plane crash, and a car crash—and that’s just the start of his impossible brushes death.
SELAK’S IMPOSSIBLE STORY BEGINS
While riding the rails from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik, a freak accident saw his train catapulted into a river. Seventeen passengers were killed, Selak reports, but he was able to swim to shore with nothing but a broken arm and hypothermia for his troubles. This harrowing event was just a drop in the ocean compared to what was in store for him next.
The very next year, Frane was flying from Zagreb to Rijeka. He reports that an accident saw a door come detached from the aircraft, which presently crashed. This time, nineteen people lost their lives, while the superhuman Selak was reportedly found in a haystack. He awoke in a hospital, appropriately rattled but really none the worse for wear.
Next, on the list of Modes of Transport That Clearly Think That Frane Selak Did Them A Great Personal Wrong, we have the bus. In 1966, the unfortunate man was in another fatal accident when the bus he was riding again plunged into a river. There were four casualties, but again he came out largely unscathed.
A couple of comparatively uneventful years passed until 1970 when Selak reports that his car’s fuel tank exploded on the motorway. He just barely escaped with his seemingly-charmed life. 1973 saw another freak car incident, when a malfunctioning fuel pump leaked petrol over his vehicle and sent flames spewing at him.
Fast forward a couple of decades to 1995, and he’s making news again as a Zagreb bus knocked him down. The next year came the immortal man’s seventh and final famous disaster: A truck came barrelling towards his Skoda as he drove around a mountain road. This episode ending with Selak leaping free, only to watch in horror as the car exploded.
