About
Luck is the event of circumstances that brings a change in fortune through attributes beyond the control of a person. Luck is categorized into good or bad depending upon the change in fortune, brought to an individual’s life.
Every individual goes through the ups and downs of life and undergoes the luck factor. If a person survives an accident and gets a new hope of life, that can be considered as a stroke of good luck for them.
This is a story of a man who has near-death escapes not once or twice but seven times in his life surviving every time to lead a stronger life. He survived a plane crash, a train derailment, a fall from a mountain, drowning in the river, and multiple car crashes making him the luckiest man on the planet.
Frano Selak, born in 1929 in Croatia, in a humble agricultural family. His life was similar to any other ordinary man. He earned his livelihood as a music teacher, teaching fellow students. Croatia is a delightful place, full of the scenic beauty of nature. The country is also known for its soccer team that finished as runners-up in the 2018 soccer world cup.
The Beginning
It all started in 1962, Selak was traveling by train on a cold wintery day. The train slipped through the tracks while it passed through a river and plunged into the river.
Seventeen persons died in this accident, but Salek managed to swim across the river jumping through the broken train window. He suffered a broken arm and suffered hypothermia and survived the accident.
A couple of years later, in 1964, Salek received news of his mother’s illness residing in Reijka. After hearing the news, Salek residing in Zagreb, rushed to the airport to catch the first flight to Reijka. On reaching the airport, he found that the seats of the flight were all filled.
He requested the airport authorities to provide him with a seat as his mother was critically ill. Taking notice of the situation, the flight crew agreed to provide him a seat of the cabin crew situated at the back of the plane. During the flight suddenly the malfunctioning backdoor of the plane opened and Salek was sucked out of the plane.
The plane crashed after the mishap, and nineteen people lost their lives, but again fortunately Salek landed in a pile of haystacks falling from the plane in flight. He survived the fall and received only minor scratches. He considered himself to be the luckiest man to survive a fall from a plane.
Accidents Continued
In 1966, Salek was a passenger in a bus on a cold wintery night. The bus could not control a turn and skidded off the road and plunged into a river. Four people drowned in this accident, but Salek again managed to swim across the river with some cuts and bruises to his body.
Salek eventually decided not to use any public transport and bought a car for himself and eventually traveled to places in his car. A few uneventful years passed by. In the year 1970, Salek was driving his car through the highway and suddenly his fuel tank exploded in the middle of the highway.
Salek somehow barely managed to get out of the burning car just as he was about to be asphyxiated by the fumes of the burning car. A couple of years later, in 1973, he was filling up fuel at the petrol pump when suddenly a malfunctioned fuel pump spewed fuel on his car. On starting the car it ignited the spewed fuel and engulfed the car in a ball of fire.
Salek managed to get out of the car in time with minor burns with fire igniting his hair. The burn injuries healed with time. The life of Salek continued peacefully for more than two decades after this incident without any other major accidents.
The Survivor
In the year 1995, Salek was walking down the street of Zagreb, when suddenly a bus hit him from behind. The impact flung him several feet into the air and landed on a garbage dump. He again survived the impact with minor injuries.
The next year in 1996, Salek was driving his Skoda car in the mountains. He could not see a UN truck coming across a turn from the front. As he saw the approaching vehicle to avoid a collision he turned his car rapidly crashing fiercely against the crash guard rails. His car flew over the rails to the gorge deep below.
Frano Salek, was not wearing his seatbelt and was ejected from the seat, opened the door of the falling car, and managed to hold onto a tree on the embankment. He saw his car crashing into the 300 feet deep gorge and blowing off. The people from the UN truck managed to pull him from the tree.
The Reward
A man who managed to escape near-death situations every time witnessing death closely from his eyes. In the year 2003, two days after his 73rd birthday, he won the lottery jackpot of Croatia of nearly 1,110,000 $.
After winning the lottery, he married for the fifth time and purchased two houses and a boat from the amount of the lottery. Later in 2010, he changed his mind donating the house and amount to his relatives and led a simple life in the suburbs of Zagreb with his fifth wife.
Ending
Frano Salek died in 2016 at the age of 86 due to old age sickness. Thus ended a journey of a man who escaped from a near-death situation seven times and eventually won a lottery reward and became a millionaire and later donated the amount amongst the relatives. A man truly deserved to be called the luckiest man on the planet.
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