Frano Serak is a Croatian known for his frequent brushes with death. He has been described as either the luckiest or the unluckiest man in the world. He faced death seven times and survived each time. By the end of his life, he also became wealthy!
How do you define luck? Survived an accident and won the lottery? Some would say it was being in the right place at the right time, or maybe being in the wrong place at the wrong time and coming out unscathed anyway. There's a man who's been through it all - and then some. Frano Serak is a music teacher from Croatia whose incredible life story has earned him the nickname The Luckiest Unlucky Man of All Time...or vice versa. His destiny was so extraordinary that the fact that he was married six times seemed like a joke compared to everything he faced in his life.
bus
Frano Serac faced death for the first time at the age of 28. It was 1957 and the bus he was traveling in veered off the road and fell into the river. Serak and the driver managed to disembark and swim to shore.
Selak later said the driver, Ahmed, had never driven without half a bottle of Balkan liquor, but he was still an excellent driver.
It later turned out that they all drank a glass of brandy before getting on the bus.
They both survived the accident with several minor cuts and bruises.
train
In 1962, during a train journey from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik, disaster struck again. When a boulder fell onto the tracks, causing the train to derail and fall into the icy Neretva River, Serak managed to break the carriage window, get out and save the life of a friend who was traveling with him. .
Both men were pulled from the river by nearby villagers. Serak suffered a broken arm, but 17 other passengers died in the derailment.
plane
In 1963, Serak boarded a charter flight from Zagreb to Rijeka to visit his sick mother. There were no seats on the plane, but he explained that he had a family business and managed to convince the crew to take him along. He was sitting in the back of the plane, next to a flight attendant named Rozka.
Not far from the destination airport, the plane experienced technical problems and began to lose altitude, eventually hitting a boulder.
Before the fall, the plane's door was torn off, and Serak was thrown out of the plane and flew to a height of 800 meters - despite all difficulties, he fell into the sea. This saved his life. Gostina also survived, but all other passengers died in the crash. Serak has not been on a plane since.
Cars
Giving up flying didn't help him. In 1970, Serak was driving his car when it burst into flames. He managed to exit the car and move to a safe distance seconds before the flames reached the fuel tank. In 1973, another car trip failed. While Selak was driving the car, the faulty fuel pump leaked hot oil into the engine. As a result, flames escape from the vents. Although most of his hair was burned off, Serak suffered no other injuries.
A pedestrian
In 1995 he was hit by a bus in Zagreb. Again, no major injuries.
A year later, a un truck nearly hit Serak's car on a mountain road. Frano avoided a collision by swerving at the last moment and hitting the guardrail. The fence collapsed and his car fell into a ravine about 100 meters below.
However, Serak was not wearing a seat belt - and reportedly never wore one again after the tragic plane crash.He jumped out of the car window and clung to a tree on the slope, just before the car rolled and crashed.
This was the last near-fatal disaster Serac experienced in his life, but not the last time he tried his luck. After everything he'd been through, Serac decided to play the lottery. It turns out that fate really favors the brave.
Days after he turned 73, Serak won the jackpot of approximately €900,000. He bought houses and villas and generously shared the remaining winnings with friends and family. He reportedly purchased and donated 25 cars and lent money to numerous people, most of whom he never saw again. This didn't upset him and he often joked about it.
He died in 2016 at the age of 86. Kindness, happiness, joy.
