Passenger Nearly Sucked Out of Ryanair Plane Window Mid-Air
A passenger was reportedly almost pulled out of a cabin window while the plane was in flight on a Ryanair service.
According to witnesses speaking to local media, the man, identified as a Serbian citizen in his 60s, was hanging headfirst out of the window up to his shoulders for several minutes. Other passengers aboard the flight eventually managed to pull him back inside the aircraft.
Ryanair issued a statement regarding the incident, explaining that its Friday morning flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, returned to the airport shortly after takeoff due to a cabin window dislodging during the flight.
The statement read: "The aircraft landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki."
The airline also noted that a replacement plane was arranged to transport passengers to Memmingen several hours later.
Passenger Accounts and Incident Details
Media outlets in Greece and Germany reported that passengers heard a loud bang shortly after the Boeing 737 took off, followed by the window breaking and oxygen masks deploying from the ceiling.
Some passengers speculated that debris from the jet's engine may have caused the window to break, although Ryanair has not confirmed this theory.
"We immediately realised there had been a decompression. There were screams... for a moment I thought someone had accidentally opened the emergency door," said Christina, a fellow passenger, in an interview with Radio Thessaloniki.
"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."
The aircraft involved is believed to be an 18-year-old plane operated by Ryanair's subsidiary, Malta Air.
Regulatory Response and Historical Context
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) informed the BBC that it is aware of the incident involving a Ryanair group aircraft registered and operated by Malta Air, departing Thessaloniki that morning.
The IAA stated: "The IAA will provide any requested assistance to the aviation safety investigation authority in Greece and the Maltese Civil Aviation Directorate, to aid their investigation."
In a related historical context, in 2018, a passenger died on a Southwest Airlines flight in the United States when debris from a damaged engine caused a window to break, resulting in the passenger being partially sucked out.
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