Uploaded February 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Not many can brag about surviving the impossible, be it thanks to their own strengths and perseverance or pure luck. Get ready to hear some amazing survival stories which prove that, when everything else fails, we’ll always have the unbeatable human spirit victorious amidst all adversities. Check out these incredible stories about the luckiest people who survived the impossible.
10. Tsutomu Yamaguchi
Tsutomu Yamaguchi, among some 260 000 people who survived the atomic bom* attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, became to be known as the only man who survived the horror of both and lived to tell the tale.
At the time, he was working for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the day the Hiroshima atomic bom* attack happened was supposed to be the last day of his three-month-long business trip. Reportedly, he’d been less than 3 kilometrers from ground zero when the attack happened, on the 6th of August 1045..
“I didn’t know what had happened,” he later told the British newspaper The Times. “I think I fainted for a while. When I opened my eyes, everything was dark, and I couldn’t see much. It was like the start of a film at the cinema, before the picture has begun when the blank frames are just flashing up without any sound.” He suffered serious injuries.
He then returned to his home town, Nagasaki in order to receive treatment for his wounds. Unfortunately, he arrived just in time to become witness to the second US atomic bom* to strike Japan. Despite the radiation-related ailments he suffered throughout his life, he lived to the age of 93.
9. Paul Templer
Paul Templer was working as a tour guide on Zimbabwe's Zambezi River in the 1990s when the hippo emerged from the water and plucked him out of his canoe. He managed to miraculously escape its powerful jaws, but not without any consequences – he lost an arm and ended up with severe injuries in the process.
"It happened so very quickly. The first thing I knew I was in a deep, dank place with this incredible pressure crushing down on my lower back, " he told the BBC.
Although working as a safari guide for years, nothing could have prepared him for this. Allegedly, he was trying to save a friend who was knocked out of the canoe by this giant bloodthirsty hippo when the animal grabbed him and pulled him underwater, first, waist up in the hippo’s mouth. When he finally somehow managed to wiggle his way out its jaws, the hippo struck again, trying to drag him beneath the water surface again. The battle lasted for some time, and was not to be over yet. Just when the guides were trying to get back to land, the hippo returned and swallowed Templar feet first. He described the second faceoff as “a dog tossing around a rag doll.”
The hippo retreated after a while but attack claimed the life of a guide and Templer’s body was severely injured with over 38 bites. When Templer was taken to a nearby hospital, surgeons feared he would lose both his legs and arms. Fortunately, they were able to save his right arm and his injured leg.
After making a full recovery, Templer became a motivational speaker.
8. Frane Selak
The (un)luckiest man, depending on your perspective, Frane Selak, a Croatian who’s said to have survived a train crash, a plane crash and a car crash. Imagine scenes from your favorite action movies… well, this man has seen it all!
Until a fateful train trip in 1962, this man had led a relatively unremarkable life as a music teacher, unsuspecting of a series of impossible events that were about to unravel. Nevertheless, he survived them all, even though during the process he might have lost some friends who started believing he brings bad luck.
Fortunately, after several years, in the mid-2000s, Selak’s luck evened out and Selak became a lottery winner. His jackpot was worth around £600,000. With this, he bought a luxurious home, only to have a change of heart and sell it in 2010. He returned to a humble life with his fifth wife. Whatever happened along the way, Frane’s story has a happy ending. He spent the last of his winnings on a hip operation, and on a shrine to the Virgi* Mary in thanks for his good fortune.
7. Wenseslao Moguel
In 1915, Wenseslao Moguel, a soldier of Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, was captured and immediately stood in front of a firing squad.
Moguel had only one superpower, but it surely was the only one he needed – he was exceptionally good at staying alive no matter what. Allegedly he was shot 10 times by the squad, followed by the coup de grace shot to the head delivered by the squad’s commander.
#DownTheRabbiThole #LuckiestPeople #SurvivedTheImpossible
Not many can brag about surviving the impossible, be it thanks to their own strengths and perseverance or pure luck. Get ready to hear some amazing survival stories which prove that, when everything else fails, we’ll always have the unbeatable human spirit victorious amidst all adversities. Check out these incredible stories about the luckiest people who survived the impossible.
10. Tsutomu Yamaguchi
Tsutomu Yamaguchi, among some 260 000 people who survived the atomic bom* attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, became to be known as the only man who survived the horror of both and lived to tell the tale.
At the time, he was working for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the day the Hiroshima atomic bom* attack happened was supposed to be the last day of his three-month-long business trip. Reportedly, he’d been less than 3 kilometrers from ground zero when the attack happened, on the 6th of August 1045..
“I didn’t know what had happened,” he later told the British newspaper The Times. “I think I fainted for a while. When I opened my eyes, everything was dark, and I couldn’t see much. It was like the start of a film at the cinema, before the picture has begun when the blank frames are just flashing up without any sound.” He suffered serious injuries.
He then returned to his home town, Nagasaki in order to receive treatment for his wounds. Unfortunately, he arrived just in time to become witness to the second US atomic bom* to strike Japan. Despite the radiation-related ailments he suffered throughout his life, he lived to the age of 93.
9. Paul Templer
Paul Templer was working as a tour guide on Zimbabwe's Zambezi River in the 1990s when the hippo emerged from the water and plucked him out of his canoe. He managed to miraculously escape its powerful jaws, but not without any consequences – he lost an arm and ended up with severe injuries in the process.
"It happened so very quickly. The first thing I knew I was in a deep, dank place with this incredible pressure crushing down on my lower back, " he told the BBC.
Although working as a safari guide for years, nothing could have prepared him for this. Allegedly, he was trying to save a friend who was knocked out of the canoe by this giant bloodthirsty hippo when the animal grabbed him and pulled him underwater, first, waist up in the hippo’s mouth. When he finally somehow managed to wiggle his way out its jaws, the hippo struck again, trying to drag him beneath the water surface again. The battle lasted for some time, and was not to be over yet. Just when the guides were trying to get back to land, the hippo returned and swallowed Templar feet first. He described the second faceoff as “a dog tossing around a rag doll.”
The hippo retreated after a while but attack claimed the life of a guide and Templer’s body was severely injured with over 38 bites. When Templer was taken to a nearby hospital, surgeons feared he would lose both his legs and arms. Fortunately, they were able to save his right arm and his injured leg.
After making a full recovery, Templer became a motivational speaker.
8. Frane Selak
The (un)luckiest man, depending on your perspective, Frane Selak, a Croatian who’s said to have survived a train crash, a plane crash and a car crash. Imagine scenes from your favorite action movies… well, this man has seen it all!
Until a fateful train trip in 1962, this man had led a relatively unremarkable life as a music teacher, unsuspecting of a series of impossible events that were about to unravel. Nevertheless, he survived them all, even though during the process he might have lost some friends who started believing he brings bad luck.
Fortunately, after several years, in the mid-2000s, Selak’s luck evened out and Selak became a lottery winner. His jackpot was worth around £600,000. With this, he bought a luxurious home, only to have a change of heart and sell it in 2010. He returned to a humble life with his fifth wife. Whatever happened along the way, Frane’s story has a happy ending. He spent the last of his winnings on a hip operation, and on a shrine to the Virgi* Mary in thanks for his good fortune.
7. Wenseslao Moguel
In 1915, Wenseslao Moguel, a soldier of Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, was captured and immediately stood in front of a firing squad.
Moguel had only one superpower, but it surely was the only one he needed – he was exceptionally good at staying alive no matter what. Allegedly he was shot 10 times by the squad, followed by the coup de grace shot to the head delivered by the squad’s commander.
#DownTheRabbiThole #LuckiestPeople #SurvivedTheImpossible
