A Downed Pilot Who Ran Away in a Stolen Enemy Plane and Other Historic Escapes

A Downed Pilot Who Ran Away in a Stolen Enemy Plane and Other Historic Escapes

Khalid Elhassan - September 13, 2020

A Downed Pilot Who Ran Away in a Stolen Enemy Plane and Other Historic Escapes
Frane Selak survived a derailment that sent his train plunging into an ice-cold river. Watt the Fisk

20. An Escape Record Going Back Decades

In 1962, Frane Selak kicked off his decades of ducking death when a train in which he was riding skidded off the rails, and plunged down a canyon into an icy river. Seventeen passengers drowned, but Selak managed to escape the Grim Reaper. He got away with a broken arm and hypothermia from immersion in the cold water.

In 1963, on his first and only plane ride, Selak was blown out of a malfunctioning door, but again managed to escape death: he landed on a haystack. The plane crashed, killing nineteen people. Three years later, he was on a bus whose driver lost control, plunging it into a river. Four passengers drowned, but Selak survived with just some cuts and bruises.

Advertisement