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The story of one lucky man translated by Ann Wood

The luckiest!
It all started in January 1962, when he traveled by train from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik. The train derails and falls into a frozen river. Seventeen passengers died; he escaped only with a broken arm and scratches.
The following year, he flew from Zagreb to Rijeka. The machine door opens, and the passengers fall off the plane. Nineteen people died, and he suffered minor injuries after landing on a haystack.
In 1966, he traveled by bus, which veered off the road and fell into a river. Four people were killed, and he remained unharmed.
In 1970, he managed to escape after a breakdown in the gas station caused a fire in his car.
In 1973, his second car caught fire, and he lost only his hair.
In 1995, he was hit by a bus - he had minor injuries.
In 1996, he managed to escape after throwing his car off the road to a precipice to avoid a head-on collision with a truck. He escapes because he falls on a tree and watches his car explode a hundred meters below him.
After his literally catastrophic travels, luck comes.
He won one million dollars in 2003 from the Croatian lottery. "I knew God was watching over me all these years," he says.
Years later, the retiree decided that "money can't buy happiness" and preferred to live a modest life. He sells his luxury property on a private island and lives in his modest home in Petrinja, south of the capital Zagreb. He is now saving his latest profits for hip replacement surgery so he can enjoy life with his wife. He built a shrine to the Virgin Mary to thank for his luck.
He is the luckiest, and he is the Croatian Frane Selak.

Short story by Ann Wood