A woman clung to her husband's legs for two minutes as he was sucked head-first through a shattered cabin window at 20,000ft, telling herself: 'If we die, we die together.'
Svetlana Grković was travelling with her 61-year-old husband Ljubiša Karović from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, on Friday when part of the aircraft's engine broke off and smashed the window next to him, causing rapid decompression. The force pulled Karović head and shoulders out of the Boeing 737, but his seatbelt kept him partially inside.
“Wife clung to husband's legs for two minutes as he was sucked through shattered Ryanair window at 20,000ft.”
'I immediately reacted and grabbed his legs,' Grković told Serbian outlet Nova. 'Half of his body was sticking out of the plane.' With the help of two other passengers, she managed to pull him back inside. He lost consciousness three times during the ordeal.
Tracking data shows the flight had been in the air for about 10 minutes when it abruptly dropped 9,000ft (2,700m). Passengers reported hearing an explosion. 'We thought the plane was going down,' fellow passenger Sofia told Radio Thessaloniki. 'The decompression was extreme. It felt like we couldn't breathe.'
Karović suffered serious injuries: a badly injured hand, friction burns, and several other burns. 'He's seriously injured and in shock,' Grković told Greek public broadcaster ERT. 'He's not able to communicate, he doesn't remember the whole event.'
A technical adviser appointed by the family believes the incident began with a failure in the right engine, causing debris to strike and shatter the window. That assessment has not been confirmed by investigators.
Ryanair said in a statement: '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 departed at 9:53 local time to take the remaining passengers to Memmingen.
Karović remains hospitalised, unable to speak, while investigators work to determine the exact cause of the engine failure that nearly cost him his life.