A Ryanair passenger was partially sucked out of a broken plane window and had to be held down by his wife to stop him from falling out during a chaotic flight to Germany on Friday, according to reports.
The Serbian passenger, 61, was pulled through the window up to his shoulders after it suddenly dislodged on the way from Thessaloniki to Memmingen early on Friday morning, witnesses claimed.
“His wife held him down for five minutes, so he wouldn’t fall out,” said Michalis Giannakos, president of the Greek healthcare union Poedin, adding that the passenger was being treated for friction burns.
“With the help of many passengers, they managed to pull him into the cabin,” he said, according to local media.
A fellow traveller told Radio Thessaloniki that during the flight, a loud bang was heard on board before the window ruptured. The cabin then depressurised, and oxygen masks fell down from the ceiling.
The witness, Christina, told the station that around an hour after take-off, when most passengers were sleeping, there was a noise “like a tyre bursting”.
Another passenger told German outlet Bild that following a loud bang, something smashed against the window, shattering it.
“We immediately understood that there had been decompression because we had lost ground,” said Christina. “It’s what they show in TV series, and we were experiencing it at that moment. Screams, screams.”
She said she had noticed some commotion further up the plane, and realised that people were trying to hold down a passenger who appeared to be partially outside the plane.
“Fortunately, he hadn’t taken off his seat belt. The man had almost gone through the window with his shoulders. His whole head, neck and shoulders were outside the window,” she said.
The pilot returned to Thessaloniki airport and the passenger was promptly taken to hospital in an ambulance, according to the witness. A second flight then ferried the other passengers to Germany.
Four people were taken to hospital, including one with minor injuries, according to Greek outlet Protothema. The other three were taken there for “precautionary reasons”.
The passenger who was pulled through the window was conscious, but in a state of shock and under medical supervision, Greek media reported.
Protothema reported that the plane’s engine had suffered a malfunction, citing unnamed sources. Ryanair did not comment on that report.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “A Ryanair flight from Thessaloniki to Memmingen on Friday morning (10 July) returned to Thessaloniki shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight.
“The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki.
“In order to minimise any delay, a replacement aircraft was arranged to bring passengers to Memmingen, which departed Thessaloniki at 9.53 local this morning.”
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