Passenger pulled back into plane after cabin window blows out on short flight to Germany
A Ryanair-operated flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen returned to its origin after a cabin window detached, leaving a passenger partially outside the aircraft before he was rescued by fellow travelers.
A Ryanair subsidiary flight operated by Malta Air turned back to Thessaloniki minutes after takeoff on Friday when a cabin window detached, exposing a passenger to the outside air. The incident occurred on a route from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, and the aircraft dropped about 9,000 feet before the crew initiated a return.
Svetlana Grković Maksimović said she saw her 61-year-old husband, Ljubisa Karović, with his head and right arm protruding from the shattered window. She unbuckled her seatbelt and, together with another female passenger and a man from across the aisle, managed to pull him back inside after a struggle that lasted nearly two minutes. Karović lost consciousness three times and sustained serious injuries, including burns and a badly injured hand, and was taken to a hospital in Thessaloniki.
"I thought: 'If we die, we die together.' It was horrible," Maksimović told local media.
Other passengers reported hearing a loud noise that sounded like a tire burst and described extreme decompression that made breathing difficult. One passenger said the cabin environment felt as if the plane were descending.
Ryanair said the aircraft landed normally and passengers were escorted to the terminal, with one passenger receiving medical assistance on the ground. The Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority has opened an investigation into the cause of the window failure.