By Andrew Hough, Daily Telegraph
A music teacher, Frano Selak, who was dubbed the
world's luckiest man after cheating death seven times before winning the
lottery has now decided to give away his fortune.
The 81-year-old won £600,000 five years ago in the
lottery in Croatia, to celebrate his fifth marriage, after earlier surviving
plane and train crashes.
He also survived other disasters including landing on
a haystack after falling out of a plane door that had blown open.
Now the pensioner has decided that "money cannot
buy happiness" and has decided to live a frugal life.
He has sold his luxury home on a private island, given
away his fortune to family and friends and moved back to his modest home in
Petrinja, which is south of Zagreb, in the centre of the country.
He kept the last bit of his winnings for a hip
replacement operation so he could enjoy life with his wife and also so he could
build a shrine to the Virgin Mary to give thanks for his luck.
Mr Selak said he has never been happier.
"All I need at my age is my Katarina. Money would
not change anything," he said.
"When she arrived I knew then that I really did
have a charmed, blessed life.
He had his first escape in 1962 when a train he was
travelling on from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik jumped the rails and plunged into an
icy river.
Seventeen people drowned and he barely made it to the
riverbank after suffering from hypothermia, shock, bruises and a broken arm.
A year later, he was thrown out of a plane on his
first and only flight when a door flew open.
This time 19 people died but he was thrown clear of
the crash and landed in a haystack.
Then in 1966, a bus he was on skidded into a river,
drowning four. He swam to safety with just cuts and bruises.
Accident number four came in 1970 when his car caught
fire as he drove along a motorway and he fled with seconds to spare before the
fuel tank exploded.
Three years later, he lost most of his hair when a
faulty fuel pump spewed petrol over the hot engine of his car and blew flames
through the air vents.
Then in 1995 came his sixth accident when he was
knocked down by a bus in Zagreb but walked away with minor injuries.
The following year, he was driving in the mountains
when he turned a corner to see a UN truck coming straight for him.
His Skoda careered through a crash barrier and over
the 300ft precipice.
But he leapt clear at the last minute and sat in a
tree as he watched his car hit the bottom and explode.
He then won £600,000 with his first ever lottery
ticket.
