Frane Selak: The World's Luckiest Unlucky Man

Frane Selak, a Croatian music teacher, survived seven near-fatal accidents—including a train derailment and a plane door explosion—before winning a lottery jackpot. In a stunning twist, he gave most of the money away, claiming the win finally brought him happiness.

The Unbelievable String of Catastrophes

Selak's ordeal began in 1962 on a cold, rainy train ride from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik. The train derailed and plunged into an icy river, killing 17 passengers. Selak managed to swim to shore with a broken arm, the first of what would become a bizarre pattern of survival.

A year later, he experienced a first in aviation history. The door of the plane he was on blew open mid-flight, sucking several passengers out. Selak was ejected but landed in a haystack, while the plane crashed, killing 19 others. He walked away with minor injuries.

A Life Lived on the Razor's Edge

His luck, or lack thereof, was relentless. A bus he was riding skidded off a bridge into a river. Selak again swam to safety. Four separate car accidents followed, including one where his vehicle burst into flames and another where it was pushed off a cliff by a truck.

Each event was statistically improbable and deadly for others. By the 1990s, friends and family reportedly considered him a dangerous travel companion. He was dubbed "the world's unluckiest man" by local media, a man seemingly cursed to witness disaster.

The Million-Dollar Twist of Fate

In 2003, at the age of 73, Selak's narrative took a sharp turn. He won 600,000 British pounds (roughly $1.1 million at the time) in the Croatian lottery. Instead of hoarding his fortune, he made a series of surprising decisions that revealed his character.

He bought himself a house and a car, but then gave away the vast majority of his winnings to relatives and friends. He even donated to charity, funding a local church restoration. When asked why, he told reporters he didn't need lavish wealth to be content.

Finding Happiness in Simplicity

"I am finally happy," Selak declared after his win. For him, the lottery wasn't about escaping poverty—it was about escaping a decades-long shadow of mortal danger. The money provided security, but his joy came from a simpler place: survival.

He framed his entire saga not as a curse, but as a testament to incredible fortune. He had cheated death seven times and lived to tell the tale. The financial windfall was just the final, peaceful chapter in an epic of resilience.

Frane Selak's story endures because it flips the script on luck itself. It asks whether surviving against impossible odds is a greater prize than any jackpot. In a world obsessed with avoiding risk, Selak's life is a wild, inspiring reminder that sometimes, just making it through is the ultimate win.