Human life sometimes consists of a series of incredible accidents that dramatically change its course. Here are 10 stories about whose participants we can say with certainty: ‘They were definitely born with the shirt on’.
Lena Paulsson. A woman found her own engagement ring… 16 years after it went missing without a trace. Lena had planted carrots in her garden, and when the time came to harvest them, she noticed that one of the carrots had a wedding ring on it. The carrot sprouted through the hole of the lost jewel and helped pull it out of the ground.
Steve Fleig. A lad called Steve grew up without a mother, and when he became an adult he decided to find her. All his attempts were unsuccessful, because he mistakenly gave the wrong surname during the search. But a happy accident put everything in its place. One day Steve got a job in a supermarket and shared his problem with his boss. Steve’s mother’s last name seemed familiar to the boss, and soon it turned out that the boy’s mother worked at the same supermarket chain, only – in a different shop.
Virginia Fike. The woman had been trying her luck at the lottery for years. Her lottery ticket pattern was always the same. On the ticket, Virginia entered the number of years her parents had been married and their age at the time of the marriage. In 2012, a woman accidentally paid for two identical tickets and… won $1 million on each of them!
Tsutomu Yamaguchi. A resident of Japan turned out to be the luckiest man alive. By some miracle he managed to survive the nuclear attacks on Japan. Tsutomu was on a working trip to Hiroshima on the day the bomb struck. True, the epicentre of the nuclear attack was located 3km away from where Tsutomu Yamaguchi was. Of course, there were consequences. Yamaguchi received severe burns, but was able to return to his workplace three days later in Nagasaki City, the location of the second nuclear bomb.
Harrison Oken. A man named Harrison Oken was working as a cook on a ship. He was in the toilet when the ship crashed, so he was unable to evacuate. But he managed to pull himself together and not panic. Harrison went to the engine room where an “air bag” had formed. There he was found three days later by rescuers. Oken was the only one of the 12 crew members who managed to survive.
Joan Ginter. The woman is truly lucky in the lottery. Her first lucky ticket brought her $5.4 million. 10 years after this lucky event, Joan played the lottery again and won $2 million. 3 years later she was lucky again. This time the lottery winnings were $3 million. 2008 brought another jackpot win to Joan’s life. She was the lucky winner of $10 million.
Julian Koepke. At the age of 17, Julianne Koepke survived a plane crash. Her plane crashed right into the Amazon jungle. Juliana not only survived the crash, one of the passengers, but also suffered only minor injuries. She breaks her collarbone, gets a lot of cuts and abrasions, and wanders around the jungle in the middle of wild animals for a few days. Eventually she was discovered by local woodcutters.
Maarten de Jong. Dutch cyclist Maarten de Jong booked reservations for both Malaysian Boeings, one of which was shot down over Ukraine in 2014 and the other which disappeared without a trace over the Indian Ocean. Admittedly, at the last minute, the guy refused to fly and thus saved his life.
Reshma Begum. A seamstress in one of the factories in the Rana Plaza building miraculously survived the collapse of the structure. Caught in the rubble, Reshma was not confused and managed to find a supply of water and food. The provisions kept her alive for a full 17 days before rescuers dismantled the building.
Frano Selak. The Croatian music teacher has played a few games of give-and-take with death and has always come out the winner. Once he was on a train that derailed and plunged into a lake. Frano managed to survive. The second time the man survived a plane crash, falling out of the plane and plummeting into the lake. Right into a soft haystack. The other 19 passengers of the airliner – crashed to their deaths. Frano also survived several car crashes and then bought his first ever lottery ticket and… became the winner of almost $1 million! What a lucky man this Frano Selak is.
