The luckiest man in the world. UN truck and mountain gorge

Top 5: the luckiest people in the world who escaped death

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You never know how lucky you are until you face danger head on. These five people know from their own experience what the "breath of death" and miraculous deliverance are. Here they are, five favorites of luck and very lucky people.

Frain Selak

His story begins in the 1960s when he was riding a train that derailed, falling into a river. It was February, and Selak, unlike the other 17 passengers, survived, escaping with a broken arm.

A year later, Selak was flying a commercial aircraft when the cockpit doors depressurized and he, along with the other 19 passengers, was pulled out of the aircraft. He was again the only survivor who was lucky enough to fall on a haystack.

Exactly one year later, Selak decided not to take risks and be closer to the ground, this time taking the bus. Perhaps he was no longer surprised when he found himself in the cold river again.

After all these "adventures", and avoiding a couple more car bombs, Frain received "compensation" from fate in the form of a one million dollar lottery win.

Timothy Dexter

Timothy is a lucky redneck who has been favored by fortune all his life. Nature endowed him with business acumen and ingenuity, depriving him of any ability to study (Dexter did not even know how to spell his name correctly).

His acquaintances made fun of him, giving him wrong or unsuccessful advice in terms of commerce, but in the end everything turned out for the best for Timati.

One such piece of advice was to sell heat-retaining pans in Western India (a region with a warm climate), but the captain of his ship managed to sell the whole batch as ladles for a growing molasses company, making a huge profit.

The second insidious advice was the idea to sell the woolen mittens of the same company, which they bought and resold in Siberia. After Timati was persuaded to sell coal in Newport, famous for its coal mines, miners' strikes began in the city, and Timati made a small fortune for himself there.

At the age of 50, he published the book What the Smarties Don't Know or the Simple Truth of the Hillbilly. At first he gave the book for free, but soon a publishing house was found that printed his book eight times, despite the fact that the text of the book itself does not contain a single punctuation mark.

Jason and Jenny Cairns-Lawrence

Normally people get into deadly trouble once in their lives, but this couple managed to get terror attacks three times! Their "lucky" story begins with a day when they strolled through New York on a pleasant September morning, enjoying the view of the twin towers.

Four years later, they repeated their experience when there was a terrorist attack on the city's public transport in London. And in conclusion, these two again found themselves in a "hot spot", now in Mumbai.

Despite all the misadventures, this couple is very optimistic and looks to the future without fear.

Spring Woolowitz

This flight attendant disproved everything we know about gravity. When a terrorist attack occurred on board her plane, which gained a height of 10 km, and the plane, along with passengers, was scattered in all directions.

Vesna miraculously discovered that she survived, escaping with a broken jaw, both legs and spine. She was paralyzed for several years, but a series of successful surgeries got her back on her feet.

Now Vesna is also famous for setting a world record for a long jump without a parachute, which the title holder herself is not too happy about.

Tsutomu Yamoguchi

Tsutomu is one of the rare people who managed to witness two nuclear bombings in a row.

The first time, he was blinded and burned by a nuclear explosion in Hiroshima, being only 6 km from the epicenter of the explosion. He managed to get home the next day in Nagasaki, where a terrible deja vu awaited him.

Tsutomu lived a long life, full of terrible events and memories, and never for a moment stopped fighting for the nuclear disarmament of all countries. Relatives until the end believed that radiation sickness would bypass him, but at the age of 93, Tsutomu died of stomach cancer.

Inspired by the example of these people and knowing what they had to go through, our daily problems seem not so global and catastrophic. We hope you learned something new for yourself, and our article was useful to you.

You never know how lucky you are until you face danger or play the lottery. These 15 people know from their own experience what the "breath of death" and "smile of fortune" are.

Frane Selak escaped death seven times

For the first time, Selak, a Croatian music teacher, was in mortal danger at the age of 33: the train, on which the man was traveling, fell into an icy river as a result of an accident. Seventeen passengers died, but Selak escaped with bruises, abrasions and hypothermia. A year later, Frane was in a plane crash. When the plane crashed, the passengers had no chance of salvation, but a fatal accident occurred: the door of the liner opened by itself, and the man fell out of the burning plane.

He landed in a haystack and thus survived. After that, fate did not test the man for 3 whole years. And then Frane went on a trip - and the bus with tourists fell into the river. Miraculously, Selak survived. Then there was a burning car, a head burn, an accident and a car accident - but the Croat miraculously remained alive. Selak considers his latest luck to be winning the lottery - the man received almost 600 thousand pounds sterling!

Woman gets back her lost engagement ring 16 years ago

The wedding ring of Lena Paahlsson from Sweden went missing in the kitchen in 1995. After 16 years, Lena, pulling another carrot out of the ground, noticed an unusual object that wrapped itself around a vegetable. Her surprise knew no bounds - the ring, which disappeared 16 years ago, was finally found. Carrot sprouted in the center of the ring.

After years of searching, Steve Flaig found his biological mother

They, as it turned out, work in the same chain of stores. Steve has been looking for his biological mother since the age of 18. Only in 2007 did the man realize that he was looking for the wrong name. New search returned results - Steve found his mother! The woman works in the same chain of stores as he!

Virginia Fike won the lottery twice in one day

Fike bought two tickets, and the numbers were already prepared in advance. “I chose special numbers. These are my parents' anniversaries and their ages,” Faik said. “I just love the jackpot game and play when I can afford it.” It was announced that no one had won the jackpot, and 14 people in the country matched five numbers each and were entitled to $1 million. The two winning tickets ended up in Virginia. Fike won both $1 million Virginia prizes.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived both atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

He worked at a shipyard in Hiroshima, being three kilometers from the epicenter of a nuclear explosion, he received severe burns. Yamaguchi Tsutomu, in a panic with other people, went by train to Nagasaki, but the Americans launched a nuclear strike there as well.

Marten de Jonge booked both doomed Malaysia Airlines flights but changed his plans at the last minute

29-year-old Dutch cyclist Marten de Jong purchased tickets for both flights, MH370 and MH17. At the last moment, to save money, Marten changes tickets for cheaper ones from KLM.

Harrison Okene survived the wreck

A tugboat sank 30 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria in May 2013. All crew members were killed, except for the ship's cook. Harrison was lucky enough to be born in a shirt: he managed to find a cabin in which an air pocket formed. In it, at a depth of 30 meters, he spent 62 hours. Kok was found by divers, who were sent to search for and recover the bodies of the crew members.

Anders Helstrup avoided a meteorite impact

A meteor flew just a few meters from the skydiver. By this time, Helstrup had already deployed his parachute. “I had a feeling that something unusual was happening. But I didn’t understand what it was, ”the parachutist later admitted to reporters.

American Joan Ginter has won the lottery four times

In 1993, a woman won $5.4 million in the lottery, in 2003 - $2 million, in 2005 - $3 million, and finally in 2008 - $10 million.

Sole survivor of LANSA Flight 508 crash in 1971

The plane fell from a height of 3 thousand meters into the depths of the rainforest, and in the struggle for life, 17-year-old Juliana Koepke made her way through the jungle to people for 9 days, having cut wounds and a broken collarbone.

Michael Benson spent two days in a volcano crater

The 49-year-old operator spent two days in a fire-breathing volcano crater in Hawaii. In 1992, he and his colleague Chris Duddy were shooting from the air for their film when their helicopter broke down just over Kilauea, one of the most active active volcanoes on the planet. The documentary and the pilot got right into Puu-oo - one of the two smoking cones of this volcano, almost falling into boiling lava.

Pilot Craig Hosking and Duddy got out the next day, and Benson was still trying to find from above through smoky clouds for another day. He spent two sleepless nights inside, breathing poisonous gases and listening to the lava seething and bubbling beneath him. And only then was he able to see the rescue net thrown to him and get to it.

Howard Ulrich and his son survived the highest tsunami in 1958

The largest tsunami wave in history was recorded in Lituya Bay, which is located in the US state of Alaska. The wave height was 520 meters! The wave caught Ulrich's boat, but the people remained unharmed.

Reshma Begum spent 17 days under the rubble

Reshma, 19, worked as a seamstress at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh. After the collapse of the building, she spent 17 days under the ruins! She even managed to find some food and water under the rubble, which saved her life.

The pilot caught the thief during the flight

Flying over his house, David Centner noticed a stranger stealing his trailer. The pilot immediately contacted the police and the thief was arrested.

The only person hit by a meteorite

Ann Hodges is an American who became famous all over the world after she was hit by a meteorite. It so happened that in 1954, Ann, who was resting on the sofa, suddenly flew some kind of fragment, and it flew at such a speed that it even broke through the roof of her house. This case went down in history - the Sulakoga meteorite (later they even began to call it Hodges) became the first case of a meteorite hitting a person.

Our life is made up of ups and downs. But some people just don't notice those moments when something goes wrong. Fate kisses them on the forehead and no matter what they do, they win anyway.

10. Terri Preece

A woman bought oysters at a Tesco store and found a pearl in one of them! Hundreds of people shop at Tesco every day, but hardly any of them are lucky enough to discover such a treasure.

Terry wasn't sure how best to proceed with her find and eventually turned it into a charming £500 (almost €620) ring.

The woman claims that she never thought that this could happen, but she really loves oysters and buys them all the time.

9. Couple from Sierra Nevada (USA)


These people do not reveal their names because they have found the biggest treasure in the last 100 years and even more!

The couple were walking in their backyard when they suddenly discovered something suspicious. It was a rusty tin filled with coins.

They dug up several boxes of 19th century coins worth $100 million! This is the largest hoard of gold coins ever unearthed in the United States! And soon the coins will go on sale.

8 Colin and Chis Weir


This couple won the biggest jackpot in Europe. One day in July 2011, they were returning from the grocery store and decided to buy a lottery ticket.

As the couple later admitted, this was not their first attempt to win money in the lottery. But it was definitely their day! The purchased ticket brought them an insane prize of 20 million euros! Part of the amount the couple spent on their dream vacation.

7. Charles Wells


Over 100 years ago, before the best New Zealand online casinos existed, people went to real casinos to try their luck.

Mr. Wells loved roulette. He spent every weekend playing roulette, and one day his lucky day came! He took several glasses of whiskey and put everything he had on one bet. Incredibly, he won $1 million!

However, that was not all! That day he was so lucky that he decided to use his luck to the fullest! Two hours later, Charles won another million at roulette on the same table!

6. Maarten de Jonge


This Dutch athlete was born under a lucky star! Can you imagine that one person had tickets for both the infamous flights MH370 and MH17? But at the very last moment, his plans changed.

Marten was going to meet his team in Malaysia and booked a flight MH17, which was subsequently shot down over Ukraine. But the day before the flight, he decided to go on vacation for the weekend and changed his ticket for flight MH370. The plane disappeared without a trace. But Marten was not on board, because he changed his ticket again at the last minute.

5. Frane Selak


This is a man who literally went through fire and water. He has looked into the eyes of death 7 times since 1957.

He was on a bus that drowned in a river. After that, he was simply pursued by a series of fatal accidents: he survived a plane crash by landing in a haystack, moved away in time from two exploding cars, caught on a tree when his car fell off a cliff.

But even this will not be enough to prove its singularity. In 2003, he bought a lottery ticket, which brought him almost 750,000 euros.

4. Joan Ginther


A math teacher who can be called a lottery guru. She won the instant lottery (scratch cards) 4 times! And each of the winnings was calculated in the six-figure sum! Her latest lottery ticket netted her an incredible $10 million!

3. Jenny Marsey


For many years, this woman tried to lose a few pounds. She wore a size 20 (our size 54) and thought it was too much.

But one day she thanked God for her magnificent forms. One day, when the children were trying to make toast in the kitchen, a fire started. The woman arrived on time. She grabbed the first thing she could find in the clothes dryer - it was her size 20 briefs - and put out the fire.

2. Tsutomu Yamaguchi


The Man Who Lived! He is one of those few

Incredible Facts

These stories seem incredible and fictional, but they are not.

Did you know the only person who survived after being hit by a meteorite?

And what is it like to win a large amount in the lottery not once, but twice in a day?

Although the fate of some of these people fell hard trials, luck clearly favored them.

The luckiest people

1. A woman pulled out a carrot with a long-lost ring.


Working in the garden, Lena Påhlsson pulled a carrot out of the ground with a wedding ring she lost 16 years ago.

The ring, designed by Lena herself, was lost after she placed it on the kitchen table in 1995. It is likely that the ring fell into the fertilizer bucket and later spread throughout the garden. If not for the lucky carrot, it would hardly have been found.

2. The man found his biological mother, who worked with him in the same store.


Steve Flaig has been searching for his biological mother since he was 18, only to discover in 2007 that he was mispronouncing her name. New searches ended in success. Luckily, Chris Tallady, a 45-year-old cashier who worked with him at the same store, turned out to be his mother.

3. Winning the lottery twice on the same day.


Virginia Fike has always played the lottery with the same numbers: the day of her wedding anniversary and the age of her parents, divided by the year they got married.

In 2012, confusion at the box office resulted in her writing numbers on two tickets instead of one. Later, on TV, she saw that two tickets matched five of the 6 numbers in the lottery, and each of them reached a value of $1 million. The woman looked at her mother and said, "It would be funny if..." and then couldn't stop laughing until she reached the bank.

Survival Stories

4. Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived two atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki


Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on business when the bomb was dropped, damaging his eardrum, causing temporary blindness and burns to his upper body.

Despite his injuries, he ended up in Nagasaki for work three days later. Yamaguchi was discussing the Hiroshima bombing with his superior when sirens sounded and another bomb was dropped. He officially became one of the few who could survive these two nuclear bombings.

5. A man survived three days underwater by crouching on an air bladder after his boat capsized.


Nigerian sailor Harrison Okene was on the toilet when his boat suddenly began to sink at 5 a.m. The ship plunged almost 30 meters under cold water. Okena, wearing only her underwear, managed to survive thanks to an air bubble in the cockpit. It was only discovered after spending 60 hours underwater.

6. A man was skydiving when a meteorite almost fell on him.


Anders Helstrup captured a close-up of the meteorite on a head-mounted camera as it jumped to the ground.

He himself did not even suspect that he had narrowly escaped death until he watched the footage. " I had a feeling that something happened, but I did not notice what happened", - said the Norwegian.

Lucky people of the world

7. The only survivor of a plane crash.


In 1971, Juliane Koepcke became the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon of Peru.

Koepke fell from a height of 3,200 meters while strapped into her seatbelt when her plane crashed in the Amazon rainforest. She walked through the jungle, teeming with crocodiles and piranhas for 10 days, until she was discovered by lumberjacks.

8. Two days inside an active volcano.


In 1992, Chris Duddy, Michael Benson and Craig Hosking spent two days inside the crater of the active Kilauea volcano after a helicopter crash.

The helicopter lost control so suddenly that pilot Craig Hosking didn't have time to call for help. When the helicopter crashed into the hot crater floor, it narrowly missed the seething lava lake, and all three escaped with only minor cuts. While the men were waiting for rescue and heard the lava gurgling beneath them, they had already mentally resigned themselves to a terrible death.

9. Sailed away from the world's highest tsunami on a fishing boat.


On the night of July 9, 1958, an earthquake in Alaska led to the formation of a tsunami wave, which was twice as high as the Eiffel Tower (more than 500 meters). The boat of Howard Ulrich and his 8-year-old son was swept away by a wave that was approaching the bay at a speed of 160 km per hour. Surprisingly, the ship was lifted to the top by a wave that carried them over the trees and lowered them back into the bay.

10. The only person in history who was hit by a meteorite.


While this sounds like extreme bad luck, don't jump to conclusions until you've heard the whole story.

Late in the morning near the city of Sulakoga in Alabama, USA, a young woman Ann Hodgesdozing on the couch, covered in a blanket, when a grapefruit-sized meteorite crashed through the roof of the house, bounced off the radio, and hit her in the thigh, leaving a scar in the shape of a pineapple. If not for the blanket and the radio, the meteorite could have hit her in the head.

Everything in life is relative. And even the luckiest people in the world are not always the happiest. Don't believe? Let's see this in three different stories.

Frain Selak. The luckiest person from Croatia

This lucky man managed to survive in terrible disasters. It all started in January 1962. music was traveling by train to Dubrovnik from Sarajevo. For unknown reasons, the train derailed at full speed. The situation was complicated by the fact that the ill-fated train sank into the icy waters of the river flowing along the paths. For seventeen passengers, this trip was the last. Frain escaped with hypothermia and a new test awaited him a year later. The plane, in which the unfortunate lucky man was flying, had an incredible door blown out at a great height. The only survivor was the hero of our story. A kind of saving pillow for him was All other air passengers died. Three years later, Selak survived a terrible car accident, again safely escaping with only a couple of abrasions. In 1970 and 1973, his car suddenly caught fire, but Frein did not care. In 1995, he was hit by a bus, but the man survived again. A year later, he flew off the road in a mountainous area. Safely clinging to a tree, Frain watched as his car exploded in mid-flight into a bottomless abyss. That's really who does not need to think about how to become lucky! The apogee of the amazing events happening to this lucky man was the winning of a million dollars.

The luckiest people in the world: Major Summerfold - the man who was chased by lightning

The first time a flash of lightning struck a young officer was in 1918. At the time of the tragedy, he fought on the fields of Finland. The lightning strike was so powerful that the major fell off his horse. The officer was paralyzed, but he managed to return to an active life. In 1924, Summerfold faced another test. He was struck by lightning for the second time while fishing. As a result, the right side of his body was completely immobilized. However, after two years he was so strong that he could take walks in the park. Who would have thought that during a walk in the shade of trees, the unfortunate lightning would overtake him again! After this tragedy, Major never recovered. He died two years later. However, the story does not end there. The monument on his grave was destroyed to the ground ... by a lightning strike!

John Line

This man can boast of having successfully survived sixteen tragedies that directly threatened his life. A series of tests began in childhood. Boy falling from a tree. So he first found himself in the hospital. On the day he was discharged, he had an accident. And it happened right on the way home from the hospital. John also survived after a sudden collapse in a mine, being struck by lightning and falling down a manhole at work. No wonder this man's nickname is Calamity. Once he suffered in two accidents at once. So, John fell from the cart, after which he was run over by a van!

As you can see, the luckiest people in the world are not such minions of fate. You wouldn't want to be in their place, would you?