He Escaped Death Seven Times and Won a Million at 76 — This Is the Luckiest Man in the World
Few stories in modern history blur the line between tragedy and miracle quite like that of Frano Selak, a Croatian music teacher whose life defied every imaginable odd. From train wrecks to midair catastrophes, Selak’s survival record reads more like fiction than fact — yet every close call brought him closer to a remarkable perspective on life.
Born in Petrinja, Croatia, Selak led a quiet life teaching music until fate thrust him into a series of extraordinary events. His first major encounter with death came in 1962, when a train he was riding from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik derailed and plunged into a freezing river. Seventeen people drowned, but Selak emerged alive, battered, and frostbitten after fighting his way to the shore.
Barely a year later, another near tragedy struck. During his first plane ride, the aircraft’s door malfunctioned mid-flight, ejecting him into open air. Nineteen passengers perished, yet Selak survived after landing miraculously in a haystack. It was an outcome so improbable that even aviation experts struggled to comprehend it.
In the years that followed, danger seemed to trail him like a shadow. In 1966, a bus he boarded slid off the road and crashed into a river — four more lives lost, but Selak once again swam to safety. Then, in 1970, his car burst into flames on the highway, forcing him to leap out moments before it exploded.
Only three years later, a fuel leak ignited another blaze, burning off his hair but sparing his life. By that point, friends began joking that Selak must have guardian angels working overtime.
After a brief calm, misfortune returned in 1995 when he was struck by a bus in Zagreb. Though injured, he recovered quickly — only to face an even more cinematic brush with death the following year. Driving through the mountains in 1996, a United Nations truck forced his car off the road. His vehicle plunged off a 300-foot cliff, but Selak managed to leap to safety and cling to a tree as he watched the car explode below.
After seven deadly escapes, his story would soon take an even more unbelievable turn — one that had nothing to do with disaster, and everything to do with luck.