Frane Selak, a music teacher from Croatia was born in 1929 and has lived to tell the tale on his many incredible brushes with death. The four times married man known by his friends as ‘Mr Lucky’ amazingly then went on to win the Croatian lottery.
His first dice with death was on a cold winters day when he was travelling on a train to Dubrovnik in 1962. The train derailed andplunged into a river. Selak received minor injuries and hypothermia while 17 others aboard the train weren’t so fortunate and perished.
Twelve months later, Selak was involved in an accident which killed 19. This time he was in a plane flying to Rijeka from Zagreb. He was blown out of the plane after the cockpit door blew off. He landed on a haystack and again, only received minor injuries.
His next accident came three years later when another mode of transport he was using, a bus, crashed into a river killing 4 but Selak survived unharmed.
His car caught fire while he was driving in 1970 and exploded soon after. Selak managed to exit the vehicle before the explosion. In 1973 Selak had another car fire and lost the majority of his hair.
Selak went over 20 years before his next ‘mishap’. In 1995 he again received minor injuries when he was hit by a bus.
A year later a tree saved his life when swerved to avoid a truck on a mountain road. While Selak landed in the tree, the car exploded 300ft below.
Frane Selak had rode his luck then came across some when in 2003 he won £600,000 on the Croatian lottery. He planned to spend his winnings on a new house, a speedboat and a car which hopefully won’t explode.
One thing is for sure though, Selak hasn’t led a quiet life.