A 61-year-old man was nearly sucked head-first out of a cabin window in mid-air on a Ryanair plane, passengers have said, after a window dislodged shortly after take-off. His wife clung to his legs for around five minutes to stop him from being pulled out, according to a Greek hospital official.
The flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, was in the air for about 10 minutes when it abruptly descended 9,000ft (2,700m). Passengers told local media they heard “some kind of explosion”.
“Man nearly sucked out of Ryanair window; wife held his legs for five minutes mid-air.”
Michalis Giannakos, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees, said the Serbian national was being treated for friction burns. “His wife held onto his legs for around five minutes to stop him from being sucked out,” Giannakos said.
Other passengers said the man was hanging head first out of the window as far as his shoulders before they managed to pull him back inside. One passenger, Christina, told 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. The masks dropped and there was a strong smell. The head and shoulders of one passenger were outside the window. Fortunately, he hadn’t taken off his seat belt.”
Another passenger, Sofia, described the scene: “When the oxygen masks dropped, we had no idea what was going to happen. We didn’t know whether we would make it back. We were sitting at the back of the aircraft, and we realised there had been some kind of explosion. 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.”
Ryanair said in a statement that the flight returned “shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged in flight”. The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki. A replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen several hours later.
Those on board have said the window was smashed by pieces of the jet’s engine, though Ryanair has not commented on this. The aircraft – believed to have been an 18-year-old plane – was operated by Ryanair’s subsidiary Malta Air.
Giannakos later said the injured man “is in shock, remains conscious”. The incident leaves questions over how a window could dislodge at cruising altitude, and why passengers believe debris from the engine was to blame.