Incident Overview
A couple returning from a holiday in Thessaloniki experienced a harrowing incident on a Ryanair flight when the husband was nearly sucked head-first out of a cabin window. Serbian media reported the event, which occurred on Friday during the flight from Greece's Thessaloniki to Germany's Memmingen.
Eyewitness Account
Svetlana Grković, traveling with her husband Ljubisa Karović, described the terrifying moment to Greek public broadcaster ERT, stating that her husband was "outside up to his chest" for approximately two minutes.
"I immediately reacted and grabbed his legs. I thought: 'If we die, we die together,'" Grković told Serbian outlet Nova.
With assistance from two other passengers, Grković managed to pull her husband back inside the aircraft. She noted that Karović lost consciousness three times during the ordeal.
"The girl who was sitting next to him was holding him by the hand," Grković told ERT. "Three of us were pulling him back inside. The oxygen masks dropped and chaos broke out."
"They put a suitcase against the window but it was sucked out," she added.
Cause and Technical Assessment
Grković reported that it appeared part of the plane's engine had broken off, shattering the window next to her husband and causing cabin decompression. Other passengers also reported hearing a sound resembling an explosion.
A technical adviser appointed by the family suggested the incident began with a failure in the aircraft's right engine, which led to debris striking and breaking the cabin window, followed by rapid loss of cabin pressure. This assessment has not yet been confirmed by official investigators.
Passenger Reactions and Safety Measures
Passengers informed local media that Karović had kept his seatbelt fastened, which helped others maintain their grip on him while his head and shoulders were outside the aircraft.
Injuries and Psychological Impact
Svetlana Grković stated that her 61-year-old husband is "seriously injured and in shock."
"It's important to me that he's alive... his hand is particularly badly injured, and he's got burns. He's not able to communicate, he doesn't remember the whole event," she said.
She further told ERT that Karović experiences anxiety related to flying, saying,
"Whenever he hears about aeroplanes he starts shaking,"
and added,
"I am also in a very bad psychological state... I feared for our lives. I was afraid the plane was going to crash."
Flight Details and Airline Statement
Flight tracking data indicates that the Ryanair flight was airborne for about 10 minutes before it abruptly descended 9,000 feet (2,700 meters).
Ryanair released a statement confirming that the Friday morning flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen returned shortly after takeoff due to a passenger window dislodging mid-flight.
"The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki," the Irish budget airline said.
Passenger Experiences During the Incident
Christina, a fellow passenger, described the situation to Radio Thessaloniki:
"We immediately realised there had been a decompression. There were screams... for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door."
Another passenger, Sofia, told Radio Thessaloniki:
"We thought the plane was going down. The decompression was extreme. It felt like we couldn't breathe. The man who was injured was bleeding and then lost consciousness several times, most likely because of the lack of oxygen and the shock."
Aircraft and Investigation
The aircraft involved is believed to be an 18-year-old Boeing 737-800 operated by Ryanair's subsidiary Malta Air.
Fraport Greece, the operator of Thessaloniki airport, stated that the incident is under investigation by the Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority.
Local media report that the 61-year-old man remains hospitalized as the investigation continues.
Given that the aircraft is a US-built Boeing 737-800 and the incident occurred in North Macedonian airspace, multiple international aviation authorities are involved in the investigation. These include Boeing, the US Federal Aviation Administration, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
Additional reporting by Nikos Papanikolaou.
